


Family Matters

by OrangeFruit (Femke_The_Orange)



Series: Guards [3]
Category: Raveleijn - Merkelbach/van Loon
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Femke_The_Orange/pseuds/OrangeFruit
Summary: Gerbrant is in desperate need for some changes in his life, and seeks to achieve those in the city. He wants to become independent, and have free choice in how he spends his days. However, he quickly realizes that that is not truly the life he wants, as he gets caught up in a web of loose ends.





	1. Apples

“Gerbrant? Is that you?” The young man could hear his mother's voice coming from the living room. It was the fifth time that month he had come home late, and he had already received numerous complaints from his parents. “It's so late, where have you even been?”

“Mom, get off my back. It's none of your business.” He sighed, and opened the door. His father was sitting in at the table, looking stern. A quite aggressively pieced of carved wood lied on the table, the knife was still in the old man’s hand.

“It most certainly is!” His mother walked towards him, and wiped his jacket clean. “We're constantly worrying about you, and you need to be alert during the day! Protecting this forest is your job as well, and you're lucky it still is! All those stories I've heard, about young men and boys, taken away… Every night I'm worried the same will happen to you! Do you not understand?”

Gerbrant placed his bag on the floor, and brushed past her, rubbing his temples. Before he could reach the ladder and escape the never-ending argument, a hand on his shoulder pulled him back.

“Gerbrant, please, listen for once-“

"Mom, stop! You're always nagging, I'll be fine! I know these woods like the back of my hand, they're not gonna take me away! Let me live!” He shouted, and the woman started trembling. His father stood up, causing the chair to fall.

"Stop that right now, and don't you dare to ever use that tone of voice against your mother again! You need to learn some respect, some gratefulness!”

“I don't need to learn shit! I'm an adult, get off my back! I'm getting sick of this ranger-responsibility-bullshit!” Gerbrant could barely hear his own voice anymore over the drumming noise in his head. His vision was getting blurry, and his pulse was growing faster. His face felt hot.

“Now listen here, you brat, you can either shut up right now and behave, or you-”

“Can fuck right off? Well, you know what?” Gerbrant picked up his bag again, swaying a little in his attempts to pick it up. “I'm going with the second option. You don't have to expect me back anytime soon, probably never. Goodbye, I'm out.” His father looked confused, but his mother stood up as soon as he opened the door to the hallway.

“Gerbrant, please! Wait! You can't just leave like this! We're your parents! What are you even going to do?”

Gebrant turned around, to see his mother with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know. Don't care enough either.” He threw open the front door, and took a deep breath of the cold air. “Fuck-up is leaving the house. Goodbye.” The door was closed with a bang, and he stalked away quickly, ignoring his parents' yells and pleas to come back.

* * *

 

Dawn was approaching when he reached the city. He let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the buildings, towers and walls, illuminated by the soft morning light. It was beautiful, just as he remembered it. It almost seemed that nothing had changed in ages. Gerbrant knew this to be untrue, but the hope for a new future made him ignore all the terrible things he knew had happened in the past few years. With new courage filling his heart, he walked towards the city gate.

It was here that the first changes immediately became apparent. Whereas the gate used to be busy with travellers and merchants heading in and out, he was now nearly all alone. The only movement was people in full black walking about, seemingly on the lookout for him. As Gerbrant walked closer, one of the people in black noticed him, and marched towards him.

“Who are you, and what is your intention?” The person, a woman, asked. Gerbrant was taken aback by the question, but quickly flashed a smile.

“Who's asking?” He replied. “And why do you need to know? Some things are… personal, y’know.”

“I am, and I’m asking you because it is my task as a guard to prevent troublemakers from entering the city. Now answer.”  Her furrowed brows made her seem more worried than angry to Gerbrant.

Gerbrant sighed. “Well, surely I’m not a troublemaker.” He rolled his eyes as the woman raised one eyebrow. “Alright, fine. Hi, my name’s Gerbrant, you can call me Gerry, and I'm here to… I don't know, get rich? That seems like fun. How’s about you?”

The woman huffed. “You’re getting yourself in trouble already. I’ll allow you entrance, because I can tell you’re not… up to something. Just, please, don’t be disrespectful. It’ll get you more trouble than you deserve.”

Gerbrant saluted, and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Will do, or, wait.” He shook his head. “Will not do? Anyways, got the message. No disrespecting.” Gerbrant saluted once more and walked away, towards the gate that was being opened, and the woman let out a sigh. A tall man walked up to her.

“Teen?”

“Think so.” She nodded. “He won’t last long before getting arrested.”

* * *

 

As soon as the door closed behind him, Gerbrant wiped some sweat from his brow, and took a deep breath. He hadn't been prepared for questions like that. If he hadn't been allowed entrance, he would have had to go back home, begging his parents to let him back home again. Even the thought of that wounded his pride.

Raveleijn was big, but the market seemed like a central place, right in front of the big, looming tower, where the Count lived with his wife. There were tons of people wandering about, more than Gerbrant could ever hope to count. Merchants selling their wares, women buying bread or dinner, men chatting with their wives or friends, children playing. And on every corner, keeping a close eye on everyone, one of those guards. The people seemed to avoid them, averting their eyes, and quickening their pace when one got close. One of the guards suddenly looked towards Gerbrant, and walked towards him.

“You! Put those down!” He bellowed, as he pushed Gerbrant aside. Gerbrant looked behind him, where a young woman carrying two loaves of bread was already preparing to run. Before she could get very far, one of the other guards pushed her to the ground.

“Do you not understand the concept of exile, girl? You're banished. Ergo, not allowed to enter the city.” The guard was nearly yelling, and the woman was in tears. Gerbrant swallowed. The woman at the gate obviously hadn't been kidding.

“Please, I paid for this with the last money I have, we're starving!” The woman on the ground sobbed. Another guard ripped the bread from her hands, and threw it in the dirt. A part of Gerbrant’s mind told him to pick it up, but he decided not to listen.

“Get out now, or I'll solve your starving problem in a different way. Dead people don't starve all that much.” He hissed the last part, but still made sure that everyone on the square could hear him. The guard that had thrown the bread away pulled the woman up from the ground, slowly, and started escorting her to the gate.

“No need to be such a softie, she knows full well what she's done!” The guard still on the square yelled after them, and laughed as he returned back to his original position. All the people on the square silently went back to what they had been doing before, and Gerbrant looked around in confusion. This was not how he remembered the city.

“What just happened…” he whispered.

“You best not question it, boy.” An older man replied. “It's just the way things go around here. There's a lot of bad apples among these guards, and we're all grateful for the nice ones.” The man looked pained, and walked on.

Gerbrant slowly nodded, and walked further onto the marketplace. There were fresh goods stalled out everywhere. Still, citizens seemed to barely buy anything, and many looked underfed. The merchants seemed just as tired and angry. Gerbrant looked inside his bag. It was as empty as his stomach.

“No choice then.” He whispered, and slowly walked past a cart filled with fresh fruits. Without moving his arm too much, he grabbed an apple, and continued walking. The merchant hadn't noticed. He smiled smugly, and took a bite. The apple was fresh and juicy; it truly was a pity no one seemed to be buying any.

Just as he was about to enter an alleyway leading further into the city, a hand on his shoulder turned him around.

“Sneaky little thief.” The man said. “You could get into a lot of trouble for that, you know.” He was taller than Gerbrant, and dressed in the tell-tale full black.

“Uh, sorry?” Gerbrant shrugged, forcing a smile out. “I'm not a thief, I think you have the wrong person.”

“Don't play stupid. You should be glad I spotted you, and not that dude over there. Hand over that apple, and pay the merchant for it, or else I'm going to make sure you know what you did.” The guard didn't seem very angry, but it was enough to make Gerbrant inch back.

Softly, he whispered: “I don't have any money.”

The guard snickered. “Of course you don't. So, how do you expect this to end? Do you expect me to give you a hug, let you keep the apple, and happily walk away? Or are you smarter than that?” Gerbrant looked at his feet and handed the guard his apple. “That's a start. Now go give the merchant his money.”

“I seriously don't have any money! Look!” Gebrant raised his voice a little, and handed the guard his bag as well. “It's empty!”

The guard turned over the bag and emptied its content on the floor. A mug clattered on the stone, along with a sharp rock.

“Aside from that. Listen, please, don’t kill me. Or cut off my fingers or anything, I still need those.”

The guard sighed deeply, and pushed Gebrant aside, into the wall. “I'll let you off the hook for now,” he hissed. “but don't think you can do anything like that ever again. You're being watched.” He turned away from a heavily sweating Gerbrant and walked onto the square. Gerbrant could see him talking to some others and pointing at him. The young man let out a breath. It seemed like Lady Luck was on his side, but he decided against taking any further risks.

He yawned as he felt his lack of sleep catching up to him. It was time to find a place to rest. He looked into his bag once more.

“Maybe a bench will do.”

* * *

 

The city was dark, and the bench he had fallen asleep on wasn't well lit. After waking up, he stood up immediately. A shawl fell off him and onto the ground. He picked it up, and smiled at the nice gesture. It was a pity he couldn’t thank the person. There was no one around, and the streets seemed eerily silent. Gerbrant had always thought a city would be more alive at this time, but apparently, he had been wrong. There were almost no lit up windows, and the only light came from lanterns hanging in the streets. He walked on and on, through the city, without meeting anyone, for a good ten minutes. Suddenly, he heard footsteps and chattering. He dove into an alleyway, trying to avoid being seen. Two guards walked past, carrying torches. He held his breath, until he was sure they were gone.

“Fuck. There's probably a…”

“A curfew.” A soft voice finished his sentence. Gerbrant turned around and jumped back. A guard, carrying a torch, had managed to sneak up behind him. She held her torch to his face, to see what he looked like, as Gerbrant slowly kept edging away.

“Stand still. You're under arrest.” The woman said. The torchlight lit up her face as well, and Gerbrant could see that she still looked rather young.

He snickered. “Are they enlisting children? What are you going to do, call your parents?”

 “Oh, fuck, I know who you are… I've heard about you, you’re that apple-thief. I can't even imagine the amount of shit you're in right now.” She chuckled. “Anyways.” She hastily looked around. “You are under arrest in name of Sheriff Korda and Count Olaf. Refusal to cooperate will result in severe penalties.”

“Oh no, help, I'm being arrested by a child. Please, just go away, I'll nap on, not bothering anyone.” Gerbrant turned around to leave, but quickly felt a foot collide with the back of his knees. In an instant, his face met the cold hard rocks of the street. A metallic taste filled his mouth. He felt unable to move, and the weight of a person now pressing a foot on his back confirmed it wasn’t just a feeling. Before he could react his hands were being tied up behind his back.

“Get up.”

Gerbrant lifted up his head. “I can't. I'm tied up.” He spat back.

“You’re worse than insufferable.” She rolled him over and shook her head, before unsheathing her sword and pointing it at his face. “Get up. Last warning.”

“Woman, I seriously can't! What part of ‘I'm tied up’ do you not understand?”

The guard sighed, and rolled him back over, his face once again hitting the pavement. Without listening to his offended yelps, she pulled him up by the rope tying his hands together, getting him on his knees.

“Is this more to your liking, sir?” She snarled. “If you don't get up right now, I'm going to cut off a limb. You don't get to choose which one.”

Gerbrant grunted, both in pain and in affirmation. Slowly, he got up, and was greeted by a sword centimetres from his face.

“Don’t even think about running.”

He lifted his head to look at the wielder, and shot her a pained blood-covered grin. “Am I bleeding? I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding. Can you get me a nice band-aid for my booboo?”

The guard grabbed his jacket, and smacked him sideways into the wall.

“Oops.” She said, as monotonous and uncaring as Gerbrant ever heard it, and pushed him forward.

Grumbling and muttering, feeling the threat of the sword behind his back, Gerbrant walked. They made their way through quite a few streets, passing by the Belfort and the market, and passing a few guards, whom Gerbrant could hear snickering after they passed. His faith in this ending favourably was fading away every step they took.

After a while, the guard stopped in front of a door, and cleared her throat, motioning for Gerbrant to come stand next to her. She opened the door, and pulled Gerbrant up the stairs. He winced in pain as his shoulder bumped into a wall.

“This doesn’t look like a jail cell,” he thought. “Unless jail cells around these parts are cozy and… not locked, I’m not in jail.”

“Not yet.” a voice in the back of his head added, a thought he quickly shook away.

The guard seemed to count the doors, and finally knocked on the fifth one. Some rummaging could be heard inside, and finally, a blond, tired looking man opened the door.

“What? Who’s there? I… Can't see who you are, uh…” He sounded tired, but the voice was familiar to Gerbrant.

“Cecilia Meijer, sir.”

“Is something wrong, Cecilia? You wounded, or sick?”

Gerbrant snorted. The girl definitely wasn't the one wounded here.

“No, no, I'm fine, don't worry sir. I arrested a criminal.”

The man looked confused. “Well, great job, but…” He scratched his head and yawned. “You don't have to tell me every time you do your job, Meijer. And you certainly don't have to wake me up for it. I thought that much was clear when you took the night shift. Please, just… don't do this the next time.”

Cecilia looked a bit embarrassed, but cleared her throat to continue anyway.

“I know, sir, I'm sorry. I just… I woke you up this time because this criminal, breaking the curfew, matches your description from earlier tonight exactly.”

The man squinted at Gerbrant, before rubbing his eyes and looking back at Cecilia. “Give me a second.” He left the door open, as he started to look around his room, finally settling on a candle. After rummaging around some more, he lit the candle with a match, and lifted it up to Gerbrant’s face.

“Hey! Careful with that!” The young man shouted as he tried to blow out the candle.

“Shit, it really is you, isn't it?” The blond man snorted and started giggling. Gerbrant, in return, looked shocked. This was the guard who had let him off the hook earlier today, after the whole apple incident.

Gerbrant took a step back. “So, uh... We meet again? Three times means you have to treat me to a drink, right? I can’t wait already, but see, the thing is, we can’t meet for that third time unless I leave, and-”

“You're not a criminal.” The guard paused to look at the young man, who was still trying to flash a cocky grin. “You're just really fucking stupid.”

“Sir, if I may.” Cecilia waited for the man to nod, and continued. “I think he's both. A stupid criminal.”

“Hey now! I'm right here! Anyways, are you guys gonna let me go or what?” He started to shuffle his hands, trying to get them out of the rope, but felt a cold, sharp blade to his neck almost immediately.

“Cecilia, put that down, please. There's no need for that here, he's not going anywhere. Give me a minute to get dressed, and I'll help you get him back to the Belfort.”

“Yes, sir.” Cecilia sheathed her sword and turned towards Gerbrant. “Don't even think about doing anything while he's gone. You’re down before you’re at the stairs.” Gerbrant rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway. “Good.” she finished.

They stood in semi-silence for a while. Gerbrant kept shifting his weight from leg to leg, huffing and sighing every time he did.

“Can I sit down? My legs hurt. You know, ‘cause you kicked me. And hit me. Multiple times.”

“No, you can’t. And shut the fuck up.” Cecilia said, but Gerbrant sat down anyways.

“So, Cecilia, right? Nice to meet you. What's a kid like you doing up and about at these times of the night? I mean, I woke up after napping on a bench. You, however, were fully awake.” No response. He decided to push further. “Isn’t your mom worried about you?” He nagged. “Or your dad? Or are you all alone in this big city-” Another kick in his shin, and he retracted his legs. “What have I ever done to you for you to treat me like this? You know, your, uhh… Friend? He's not nearly as mean as you are.”

“He's my squad leader, you twat. Now get up. He's going to be meaner than me if you continue to piss him off.”

Gerbrant stuck out his tongue. “I'm not going to-” Another kick. “Fine, fuck. I get the hint. But come on, doesn't your boss understand that a dwarf your age isn't exactly intimidating?”

“My boss understands that I do my job. You, however, seem to do nothing of any importance.” Cecilia had gotten sick of him slouched on the ground, and pulled him up by the ropes again, in one swift motion.  The rope burned against the skin of his wrists, and the sudden jerk made him feel a little wobbly.

“Are you going to insult me personally now?” He replied, the pain audible in his voice. “At least I can confidently say I'm not a bad person. Unlike someone in this building, I tend not to kick strangers on sight.”

“Alright, I've heard enough.” The blond man reappeared, looking refreshed and a lot more intimidating in his full uniform. “I heard all of that, you know. That's plain disrespectful, not even mentioning the fact that you were told to, and I quote, ‘Shut the fuck up’, a command you obviously ignored. See, usually…” The man closed the door behind him and started pushing Gerbrant forward. “Usually, breaking the curfew for the first time just means you have to spend the remainder night in a cell. However, adding the theft to that, and the general annoyance you’re being…” He pulled the young man closer. “You're in deep shit, and I'll make sure to personally take care of the amount of shit, okay?”

Gerbrant gulped, and he could hear Cecilia snicker behind them. “Aight, fine, I'm sorry, okay? I'll leave town and I won't cause you any trouble ever again, deal?” The two guards stayed silent, as he walked out of the building and into the streets. “Guys? Dudes? My newfound friends?” His questions were met with more silence, and Gerbrant started to feel a little afraid. “I'm sorry, I really am, I didn't mean to offend you! Please, just let me go?”

Once again, they crossed the market square, the Belfort tower looming over it. The few present guards politely greeted the blond man, saluting. Gerbrant was pushed towards the Belfort, but before they reached the stairs leading to the front door, they took a turn to the side, to a dark, small staircase, leading down to a fortified door. A man in a more fancy outfit stood outside, seemingly guarding it.

The squad leader cleared his throat, nudging his head towards Gerbrant. “Peter, we have another one. I'd like to take care of this one personally, if that's okay.”

The man, Peter, nodded. “I'll alert miss Mulder of that, mister Verheij”

“Very well. I'm sure she'll understand.”

Peter opened the door, and Gerbrant was pushed in, violently, causing him to land on the floor.

“Ouch, dude! Not necessary! I was already going!”

The tall guard, Verheij, grinned, and pulled him back up again. “Cecilia, could you open that one up, please?”

 Cecilia nodded, and opened a cell door. Without any warning, the blond man pushed Gerbrant again, this time causing him to land inside the jail. Gerbrant could hear the man laugh a bit as Cecilia cut his ropes loose with her sword, after which she quickly stepped out of the cell, closing and locking the door behind her.

“Alright, time for me to go back to sleep, and for you to continue your shift. I will see you tomorrow at breakfast.” Verheij said.

Cecilia saluted, but Gerbrant quickly ran up to the bars.

“Hey, dudes, wait! Don't leave yet! What's gonna happen to me now?” Cecilia shrugged, but the man smirked.

“I’m going to sleep on that, you’ll see tomorrow. Don’t worry too much about it, I’m sure it’ll be fun. Sleep tight! Don’t let the… hay… insects… bite, I guess.”

  



	2. Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerbrant gets what he wants, apparently.

Gerbrant hadn't been able to sleep, at all. The floor was too cold, the hay was itchy, and the sun rose far too early. As soon as the first rays of sunlight came through the bars and hit his face, Gerbrant heard the loud sound of a bell ringing. He shot up, and looked through the tiny window. People were slowly getting out of their houses, and the market was being built up. He stared at it for a while, almost hypnotised, until he heard people talking outside his cell door. Immediately he ran to the door, and grabbed the bars.

“Hey! Hey! Over here! What's going on!” He yelled. “Am I free to go?”

The guards outside simply snorted, and one left the room. The other one sat down on the chair, and glared at Gerbrant. Gerbrant understood the hint, and walked back to the window. The market was almost fully built up now, and everywhere guards were leaving, only for more new ones to take their place.

Gerbrant heard heavy footsteps coming down into the prison area. They seemed to stop in front of his door.

“Hey, Apple-thief! Get over here!” The man from last night called. “It's time to wake up and smell the roses!”

Gerbrant shuddered. “Time for what? What if I don't go over there?” He waited a while, but there was no response. Slowly, he walked towards the bars, so he could see the guard.

“Seeing as you moved over here anyway, I don't think you really wanted to find out. Now, first things first, I'd like your full name, please. This is mostly for paperwork.” The blond man said.

“Aw, c’mon, man, don't tell me you forgot already? Gerbrant, Gerry, your pal?” Gerbrant was terrified, and he needed to find a way to stretch time.

The guard scribbled something on a note. “First name Gerbrant, and your last name? Oh, and your age, so I can find out whether or not I'm obligated to alert your parents.”

Gerbrant snorted. “I'm not a child, dude. I'm nineteen.”

The guard wrote that down as well, and looked back at Gerbrant, a lot more impatient this time. “Your last name.” He insisted.

“...Schippers. Gerbrant Schippers.” Gerbrant finally sighed. “Am I free to go now? There's still things I need to do, people to meet, and all that stuff. You know, living the good life.”

The blond man snorted, but obviously wasn't amused. He opened the door, and mentioned for Gerbrant to get out. The young man sighed in relief.

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much! I promise, I won't do anything anymore, I'm a changed man now!” Gerbrant beamed innocently.

“Arms behind your back, please.”

Gerbrant’s smile faltered immediately. He sighed, and turned around, offering his wrists, which were quickly tied together again. A soft push against his shoulders made it clear he needed to start moving again.

They walked through the tower for a while, sometimes backtracking, with the Guard huffing in annoyance every time he took a wrong turn. Gerbrant snickered every time this happened, which caused him to get a push in the back again.

“Fred, aren't you supposed to be outside? What are you doing here?” A female guard came walking towards them, wearing the same fancy outfit Gerbrant noticed on the man outside the door last night.

“I'm looking for Korda-”

“Wow, you're really lost then.” The woman snickered, and the man huffed.

Gerbrant nodded. “He is, it's honestly hilarious, I didn't get to count, but I'm sure we've taken the same turn five times already-”

“Shut up, prisoner.” The woman glared at him. She turned towards the blond man. “What's he in for, Frederic? Curfew breaking?”

“More than that,” Frederic replied, and he pulled Gerbrant towards him, who had started to slowly shuffle away. “Theft, insult. Being a general pain in the ass.” Ignoring Gerbrant’s huffs of protest, he continued. “I'm taking him to Korda to discuss the correct punishment. I'm thinking some public shaming really wouldn't hurt.”

The woman laughed, and pointed down a hallway. “Just go that way, take the stairs down, and it's the fourth door down that hallway, on your right. And I'm expecting a good story at dinner.”

Frederic snorted. “Alright, thank you, Fleur. See you around.” He snickered as the woman raised an eyebrow.

“Not until dinner, I hope.” She muttered. “Bye!”

Gerbrant hummed, and started walking towards the stairs. Frederic caught up to him quickly, and grabbed him by his jacket.

“Stop. Walking. Away. This is your last warning.”

Gerbrant yelped, and looked offended. “I was walking in the right direction! Dude, sorry, please?” He now looked as if he was about to break down, as Frederic stared at him with a face full of anger. “I didn’t mean to break curfew, where should I have gone? Please, can I just… go? I'll leave the city, if that's what you want!”

Frederic simply pushed forward. “Do you want to know what I want?” He asked, and Gerbrant nodded. “I want you to learn a lesson, and understand that if someone else had found you stealing, you'd be in jail cradling a bloody stump right now. I'm not kidding when I'm telling you you're lucky, boy, infections aren't fun to treat. Now walk on and don't run away, because I'm starting to get sick of you.”

They had reached the door Fleur had told them about. Frederic glared angrily at Gerbrant once more, and knocked on the door.

“Who's there?” The voice inside sounded tired.

“Frederic Verheij, sir. I bring a criminal, and I'm here to discuss the appropriate punishment.”

The man inside sighed. “Give me a minute.”

Gerbrant snorted. “Is that your boss? He sounds like he needs a vacation. Or two. Or just a retirement.”

“What even is your goal here at this point, to get out free or to be quartered? Because, honestly, I'm not sure.” Frederic whispered angrily. “Shut up, Schippers. Shut up if you actually do want to get out alive.”

The door opened. Frederic saluted, and Gerbrant flashed a grin. The man didn't look angry at all, more afraid than anything else. This was going to be a piece of cake.

“Mister Verheij, you said you brought a criminal? What did he do?” The man said.

“He broke the curfew, stole an apple and insulted numerous guards. However-” Frederic said when he saw Korda grabbing some papers. “I don’t think the usual punishment is in place. As far as I know, this was his first day in the city, and he may not have known about the rules, at least, he seemed unaware of the curfew. Miss Meijer told me he only realized there was one as he got arrested. The apple he stole was immediately confiscated, and he apologized profusely.”

Korda nodded, and turned to Gerbrant. “Where are you from? As far as I know, the curfew is enforced everywhere, and theft is… theft in every part of the county.”

Gerbrant, who had been staring in the distance, looked Korda. “Who, me? Uhm, nice to meet you.” Gerbrant smiled, and Frederic cleared his throat, before mouthing the question Korda had asked the distracted boy. “Oh! Where I'm from? I'm from the Lösterwoud, my parents are the rangers there.”

“Well, that explains the curfew. Why are you here? In the city, I mean. Aren't you supposed to help your parents?” The old man asked, looking genuinely curious. Frederic now seemed mostly confused.

Gerbrant looked down at his feet. It was a hard question, because he wasn't sure himself. Of course, his parents, but he could've gone anywhere. After a while of silence, he looked up, and he decided to act on impulse.

“I want to join the Guards.”

Frederic immediately broke out laughing, and Gerbrant smiled awkwardly. Not the response he had expected, but he’d take it over anger any day.

“You want… what… now?” Frederic finally managed to say. “You are by far the most incapable person to ever want that, and-” Suddenly, Frederic stopped laughing. “Korda, sir, if I may,” he said, still grinning.

“Yes, mister Verheij?” Korda replied, rubbing his temples.

“Scratch the punishment. He is absolutely oblivious as to what it means to be a guard, and it may turn him into a normal member of society. If anything, it'll definitely teach him a lesson.” Frederic smiled smugly, and Gerbrant shuddered.

“Very well then. Do you want to put him through basic training?” Korda asked.

“No, that won't be necessary, he seems capable of holding his ground. Plus, if he wasn’t lying about being a forest ranger, he’ll know the basics anyway. However, I would like to make a suggestion as to where he's placed.” Frederic waited for his boss to nod, and continued. “Stuivenberg’s squad, if it wouldn't be too much trouble. He'll deal with the kid just fine.”

“Hey! I'm not a kid, dude! I'll do just fine, just you wait!” Gerbrant said, and Frederic shook his head. “What, you don't think I can do it?”

“I don't, no,” Frederic answered. “Anyways, sir, is that okay?”

Korda scratched his head, and turned around to grab a piece of paper. He scribbled something on it, and handed it to Frederic. “Bring this to mister Stuivenberg.” he said. “He'll take the boy from there. Make sure to tell him everything you told me, but knowing you, that won't be an issue.”

Frederic saluted. Gerbrant started whistling as soon as Korda closed the door. He stretched his arms out backwards, and shot Frederic a smile.

“So, dude, cut me loose? I'm free to go now, right?” The young man said, grinning widely and smugly.

“You most definitely are not.” Frederic answered, and pushed him forward.

* * *

 

”What the fuck, Fred.” The tall man waved the note around. “What the actual fuck did you do. More importantly: why.”

Frederic snorted, holding Gerbrant by his collar. “Come on, Leon, don't be so mad. I need your help in this. The kid’s a troublemaker, and you know it's only gonna get worse if we don't straighten him out. And I mean… there's some potential? Maybe?”

“Fred, don’t try to sell him to me. You can't just pick petty thieves off the street and then dump them off here, that's just plain rude.”

“Yeah, Fred, don’t call me a troublemaker.” Gerbrant said, mockingly. Both Leon and Frederic glared at him. “What?” Gerbrant continued. “I'm not a troublemaker. I just… really like apples and sleeping.”

“That's it. Fred, give me one good reason why I would ever take this… thing into my squad.” Leon grumbled. “In the one minute I’ve seen him I can already see there’s no potential there, so explain to me exactly why I should waste my already sparse time on him.”

The blonde sighed, and started untying the ropes around Gerbrant’s wrists. “Because,” Frederic started, “Well, I can give you two reasons. One, because Korda has given me approval and neither of us have much of a choice anymore, and two… I think you're capable of straightening him out. Come on Leon, you get to do your worst, and it's either this or like, a week in the pillory. And in all honesty, I'm afraid he'd just love that kind of attention.”

Gerbrant rubbed his wrists. “So, can I leave now? I got it, okay? I won't do it again.”

Leon huffed. “No. Of course not.” He looked at Fred, who shrugged.

“It seems as if you're staying here.” Leon sighed. “First things first, we're gonna get you a uniform. You look like shit. Van Maaren?” He yelled the last part, and a smaller guard came running up to the three of them.

“Yeah?” Her eyes widened, as she got a nudge from Leon between her ribs. “I mean, yes, sir?”

“Could you get mister Schippers over here his new outfit? I'll send a request to the tailor soon, but for now, try to find him a spare that fits.” Leon gestured at Gerbrant.

The woman nodded. “Of course, sir.” She turned towards the young man. “Follow me.”

“Whoah, hey! Who are you even, why does she get to boss me around now?” Gerbrant yelled. The three guards looked at each other.

“Because I, as your superior, say so. Get moving.” Leon finally settled on.

Gerbrant grumbled. He was obviously not happy about the situation, and it showed. The angry stares of three guards did the job, though, and Gerbrant reluctantly followed the woman. She led him to a building like the one he had been in yesterday, with dozens of small rooms. She opened the door on the right of the entrance. It was a small storage closet, with some buckets, mops, rags and spare swords. On one shelf, there were a few black shapeless piles of cloth, from which the woman took one. She walked to the corner of the room, where a few boots stood.

“Shoe, please.”  She asked him.

Gerbrant looked confused. “Wait, what? What do you need my shoe for? They don't smell as nice as you might think they do.”

The woman sighed. She turned back to Gerbrant with a pleading look on her face. “I need your shoe, so I can check which boots you need. Do you want your toes to be cramped? Can you please hand me a shoe, and spare me the details of the smell.”

Gerbrant huffed, but offered her a shoe anyways. The woman compared a few boots, and finally gave him his shoe back, along with a formless pile, some hard metal things, two boots, and a helmet. It was the ugliest thing Gerbrant had ever seen.

“The helmet, that's optional, right? I mean, that's just if you're afraid to fall on your head? Wouldn't want to cover up this handsome face now, do we.” He said, holding the pile in his arms.

The woman looked exasperated. “We do.” She sighed. “It's not optional. Now go put it on, I'll wait outside. After you're dressed I'll explain a few more rules to you, so you don't immediately get slaughtered when we get back up on that wall.” She stepped out of the closet and closed the door behind her.

Gerbrant put the pile down, and sat down on the ground. This was it, his mother's worst fear. Being taken in by these mysterious people. In all honesty, he didn't think they were that mysterious at all. Of course, they were dangerous, but still people, not the shadow creatures mother had always made them out to be. Another lie. A lie to keep him inside.

Gerbrant thought his first day out of the house had gone well enough. He didn’t die, and now he had a job. He looked at the pile next to him. Picking up one piece of clothing at a time, he could see some kind of outfit taking shape.

“If only I knew where all these tiny things went,” he thought, and started getting dressed.

After he thought he had pieced it together, he stepped outside, carrying the helmet underneath his arm.  “Well, lady, I'm ready for my first day at school!” He said. The woman snickered.

“These are shoulder pads, they don't go on your knees. And put on the helmet. It's still not optional.” She rolled her eyes as Gerbrant slowly fixed his outfit, and placed the helmet over his face. “Now, as for those rules. I'm a patient woman, but you will not call me lady ever again, please; you will address me as miss Van Maaren. The tall man on the wall there is mister Stuivenberg, and as he is our squad leader, yours too, you'll call him sir.”

“You didn't do that. You just said yeah.” Gerbrant retorted.

“And I fixed my mistake. The bell rings each morning at five: as you are doing the day shift, you should get up then to eat your breakfast, so you can be ready at six. You can eat it wherever, but I recommend you eat it in the central mess hall, where dinner will be served as well, because official notices will be given there. Other than that, just listen to what everyone tells you, and follow the rules. Am I clear, kid?” The woman stood with her hands on her hips.

Gerbrand scratched his head. “Crystal. And I'm not a kid. I'm an adult man.”

“Start acting like one.” She walked towards the door, and held it open for him. “Let's get back to the wall, I'm sure mister Stuivenberg is waiting for us.”

The outfit was hot and uncomfortable. The cape made it even worse, so Gerbrant unclipped it.

“Put that back on.” The woman said without looking. “Unless you want your first impression to be shit. Not that it's not shit already, but, you know. Save that last bit of respect.”

“Fine.” Gerbrant closed the cape clip. “So, uh, what's your name then? Weren't you the one that let me in yesterday?”

“I've told you my name. And yes, that would be me. It is my biggest regret so far.” She replied, steadily walking on.

Gerbrant shook his head. “No, no, I mean your first name, dudette. We're never gonna be friends if you keep being so mysterious.”

They had reached the stairs leading to the top of the city wall.  The woman turned around. “My first name is Evelijne, but please remember you’re not here to make friends. Keep the making friends part for outside of work hours, please. From what I’ve gathered you’re here to learn a lesson, which means you need to pay very close attention to what you do. Any slip-up could be the one that gets you sent out. Keep that in mind.” The two of them had reached the top of the wall, and they could see Leon walking around.

“Sir! I'm back! The new recruit is dressed, and ready to go.” Evelijne shouted, and Leon came walking towards them. He inspected Gerbrant, and finally gave a nod of approval.

“Fr- Verheij has been nice with you, but don't think for even a second you can slack off. You are to be here every morning at six, not a second later. I'm not patient. I will report you, and you will end up being punished.” Leon looked at the boy standing in front of him, looking awkward in the slightly too big clothes. “As for your job. Patrol the walls, but don't get too far from the gate. If you see anything suspicious, report it to me or miss Van Maaren. We'll help you deal with it. Try to use common sense to see if something is a problem or not, and don't call us for every rat or mouse; we have more important things to do.”

“Yessir!” Gerbrant replied, with a mock salute. “I will kill those rats myself!” Leon shook his head, and pointed towards the wall. Gerbrant skipped off, and started walking around.

“Eef, he doesn't have a sword.” Leon whispered.

“Don't you think it's for the best if he doesn't?” Eveleijne replied. “Besides, he's not going to last long enough to need one either. He’s got good intentions, but… He’s not cut out for this. I give him a month before he gives up.”

Leon snorted. “Good point. Let’s get back to work before _we_ get complaints.”

The day went by relatively uneventful. Gerbrant walked around for the most part,  and got reprimanded a few times for slacking off. When the sun started to set, he sighed happily. The day had been tiresome, even though so little had happened. He looked around to check for others, and sat down on the edge of the wall. Enjoying the warm beams of the setting sun, he closed his eyes. Suddenly, he heard some rustling beneath him. He shot up, and walked towards the sound.

“Anyone there?” He asked. No response. He looked down. A guard stood there, seemingly inspecting the wall.

“What are you doing?” Gerbrant said. The guard looked up, and Gerbrant was sure he recognized her face. She froze, and ran away.

Gerbrant scratched his chin. “Probably nothing.” He mumbled. “Let's go to dinner.”

 

**  
**


	3. Cells

“That's it! I've had it with you!” Leon’s loud voice rang through the silent mess hall. No one dared to say anything. “You're never on time, you're constantly slacking, your mouth is bigger than the entire city, and now you're breaking your equipment! I've given you time, but it's over now! Get your ass over to Korda, and explain to him exactly why you're there! I'm not wasting any more time on you.”

Everyone was staring at the two, Leon red as a tomato, and Gerbrant trembling, but still smiling awkwardly. The boy had lasted two weeks.

“Sir, please, I-” Gerbrant stuttered. “It's not that late, I can still fix it if I eat quickly!” His broken spear was a sad sight.

“That doesn't matter! I've had to drag you up to the walls too many fucking times, and now it appears you can't even take care of your stuff, and I'm sick of it! This is not a hotel! Now get your ass over to Korda before I harm you!” Leon shouted. Gerbrant cowered, but nodded nonetheless. He walked away with his head down, shoulders slugged, seeming genuinely sad.

“Good,” Leon said as he sat back down. “And don't even think about running away, I'm expecting you back here immediately afterwards.”

Gerbrant walked out of the mess hall without saying another word. He could feel the eyes burning on his back. He should have seen it coming, but the spear had been a complete accident.

The mess hall was near the Belfort, but Gerbrant still had to endure some form of a walk of shame, his eyes still on the ground, his broken spear still in his hand. Tears were burning in his eyes. He was genuinely starting to enjoy his job, even though it was hard. Despite having struggles, it felt like things were improving, but sadly his squad leader wasn't having it anymore.

The office was right in front of him. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand to knock.

“Who's there?” Korda asked from inside.

Gerbrant sighed. “Gerbrant Schippers, sir.”

“Come in.”

Gerbrant pushed the door open. The old man sat behind his desk. Gerbrant closed the door behind him, and cleared his throat.

“How can I help you, mister Schippers?” Korda asked, barely even looking up from his papers.

“I-” Gerbrant swallowed. “I was sent here by my squad leader, mister Stuivenberg, sir. He told me to-” He sighed, looking down at the floor. Korda coughed. “He told me to report that he was sick of me, because I'm always… late, slacking off and rude. Besides that, I broke my spear.” Gerbrant showed his spear. “But I swear, I'm sorry, and I can still fix it-”

“Mister Schippers, I speak all the squad leaders weekly. I was already aware of the problems you've been causing. Stuivenberg told me that if you showed up here, he did not want you back. To me, it's clear enough.” The old sheriff said, writing something down on a piece of paper. “I'm moving you somewhere you can't cause any trouble. If you manage to make things go south there, you're done, and I will converse with Verheij about what should be done about that punishment. Tell Stuivenberg you're being moved to the prisons. He'll ask someone to guide you there and give you your new clothes.”

Gerbrant felt a tear rolling down his cheek. “Does this mean I get to keep my job?” He asked, trembling.

Korda sighed. “Don't get me wrong; one more mishap and you're out. However, yes, for now, you do get to keep your job. Albeit in a different location.”

“Thank you, sir, thank you so much! I'll go tell mister Stuivenberg immediately!” Gerbrant ran out of the door. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so relieved.

The mess hall was still mostly full when he ran back in. Some guards were already leaving, and others, having been relieved from their posts, came trickling in. Leon was still sitting at the table he had been sitting at, together with Evelijne, Frederic and Fleur. Gerbrant slowly walked up to them, and cleared his throat.

“Yes, Schippers?” Leon said, turning around.

“Uh, I'm… being relocated. To the prisons. Someone has to bring me there, Korda said. I'm still really sorry, but hey-” Gerbrant smiled painfully, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying moments prior. “Now that you're not my boss anymore, we can totally be friends, right?”

“Oh, fucking hell, no, of course not. I can't believe you get to keep your job. Anyways, fine. Fleur, you can pass by Mulder with him, right?” Leon said to his friend, who was chewing her bread.

After swallowing, she angrily glared at Leon. “Why are you dumping him with me.”

“Because you're the only one who hasn't dealt with him yet, and you're going to the Belfort anyways. I'm sure Agnes won't mind if you do this first. If she does, blame me.” He threw her a smile, and Fleur snorted.

“Fine. Thief, follow me.” She stood up, and took Gerbrant’s spear. “You won't need this. Eef, would you mind taking this one?”

Evelijne nodded and took the broken weapon. Gerbrant was right, it absolutely wasn't unfixable, and could probably be used for the next new recruit.

Fleur turned around, took a deep breath, and walked towards the door without waiting for Gerbrant to follow her, which caused him to sprint through the mess hall to keep up.

“So, missy, why are you looking so glum?” He asked, skipping through the sand outside.

“Because I am.” Fleur snapped back. She opened a side door that led into the Belfort. It was a dark and small hallway, and Gerbrant shuddered.

“Do I have to walk through this every day?” he asked, touching the damp walls.

“Yes.”

“Yikes, lady, you can at least try to hold a conversation. There's nothing wrong with talking every now and then.” Gerbrant winked at her.

“I do not like to be late. I do not like you. I want to dump you in the prisons so I can get to work. Now shut your trap.” Fleur hadn't even turned around, and was steadily walking on. Gerbrant quickened his pace to keep up with her.

When they reached the closet containing the spare outfits, Gerbrant almost gagged.

“Are you kidding me? I mean, this-” He gestured down at his outfit. “This is already bad enough, but that's just horrid!”

“Too bad. You can keep your helmet and boots, but other than that, you can use this closet to change. After you’re done, the prisons are downstairs. If you see a door made out of metal, knock, and someone will let you in. You can take this sword. Don't even try to hurt your co-workers, they're all better at sword fighting than you are.” And with those words, Fleur turned around and walked away, leaving Gerbrant in the closet.

“Well then.” He hummed, and started to dress himself. The Belfort outfit was slightly more complicated, with a few more layers, and the poufy sleeves were horrible to put on. Gerbrant did appreciate the sword Fleur had given him. He’d need some practice, but it looked cool. Almost cool enough to balance out the rest of the outfit.

The walk to the prisons wasn't long, and within minutes, he stood in front of the metal door. Slowly, he lifted his hand to knock. He knocked hard, too hard, and it hurt his knuckles. As he was waving his hand in pain, the door opened.

“Who are you?” A woman asked.

“Gerbrant Schippers! And who are you?” He said, flashing a smile.

The woman huffed. “You must be the new recruit. I'm Wiesje Mulder, but you shall address me as miss Mulder, or ma’am. I am the squad leader of the prison division. You'll be doing the day shift in the lower prisons. That's where the real bad people rot, so make sure you're always aware and ready. You're on your own until we hear you scream in pain.” Wiesje smiled. “But I'm sure you'll be fine.”

Gerbrant nodded slowly, eyes wide. His new squad leader laughed. “No need to be frightened. You have a sword, they don't. Now, get to work.” Wiesje pointed at the staircase further down into the dungeons.

He swallowed, and went down the slippery stairs. The staircase was even darker than the hallway he had used to get into the Belfort, and he didn't even want to count all the spiders. He opened the door at the end, to see the short hallway with cells on each side. At the end of the hallway, a guard sat on a chair. When Gerbrant entered, he looked up, and gave him a curt nod.

“Have fun, kiddo.” The older man said, and walked out, leaving Gerbrant on his own. Slowly, he sat down on the chair, grateful that his legs could get a little rest. The cells seemed silent enough. However, he didn't want to know what would happen once the people inside the cells woke up and noticed a newbie. He probably couldn't use his wits on them.

“Are these guys murderers?” Gerbrant whispered. His voice echoed in the damp hall.

“Heh. If only.” Someone grumbled from inside a cell. Gerbrant shot up, and unsheathed his sword.

“Who said that? Don't you even dare to try anything, I won't hesitate!” He said, trying to sound as confident as possible.

“Calm down, boy. I'm still inside my cell.” A gruff looking, older man’s face appeared through the bars. Gerbrant could see in the torchlight that the man’s eyes were cold and empty, and the man looked underfed. The complete lack of emotion on the man’s face made Gerbrant terrified. He hesitantly took a step toward him.

“Get- get back!” Gerbrant threatened, the sword still in his hands.

“They're putting you out here quicker and quicker, huh. That's not how you hold a sword.” The man chuckled.

“How do you know? Did you kill someone with a sword?” Gerbrant stuttered.

The man looked shocked. “Oh, heavens, no. I'm a blacksmith, not a murderer.”

Gerbrant was confused now. “Wait, what? What did you do to get locked up down here? Did you, like… punch the count? Attack a lady? Are you a fucking pervert?”

“Oh, no, boy, calm down! Out of those things, punching the count is the only one I came even close to doing!” The blacksmith sighed. “I don't know what they told you, kid, but that's not why any of us are here. You can put the sword away.”

“Then why are you here?” Gerbrant asked, putting the sword back into the sheath, a little clumsily. The smith laughed, but quickly looked solemn again.

“They seriously didn't tell you? We're the traitors, boy. We didn't listen to the count, and now we're down here. I can’t speak for the others here, but… I didn’t want to give up my son, so I hid him when they came. They found him anyways, and took me as well.” The old man trembled. “I haven't seen him anymore. Every day I hope for news, but every time more guards come down here, there's nothing. It feels like I'm the only one still asking.”

Gerbrant was appalled. “Wait, dude, they took your son and then you as well? Damn, I thought my mom was just telling tales. I'm sorry, dude, I haven't met anyone looking for their father.”

“As expected. Still, it can't hurt to try. I know I'll find him one day.” The man turned around, and went back to his bed made out of hay and straw, where he sat down and scratched another stripe into the wall.

A loud knock on the door signified that someone wanted to enter, and Gerbrant hastily opened it. His new squad leader stepped in, with two guards with unknown uniforms flanking her.

Wiesje looked at Gerbrant. “Don't worry, you're not fired. We're just taking one of our guests to a new residence!” She said, and gestured for the other two guards to open the door of the cell the blacksmith was in. “He's the one.” She said.

The guards nodded, and unlocked the door. Together, they dragged the struggling old man out, as Gerbrant looked with wide eyes.

“Oh, don't worry too much about it,” Wiesje said, placing her hand on Gerbrant’s shoulder. “He'll be fine. It’s just wasted potential to leave all these criminals to sit in here, while they could be doing useful things! Especially a blacksmith like him…” She clicked her tongue. “Anyways, best get back to work! You seem to be doing great so far!” Within seconds, he was alone in the hall again, the only sounds coming from soft coughs and water dripping from the roof.

After what seemed like days, another knock on the door rang through the hall. It was a little softer this time.

Gerbrant yawned. “Please tell me this is the shift change.” He said, as he opened the door. The guard that stood there looked like she wanted to run away, but Gerbrant took a step back to allow her in. She brushed past him, and Gerbrant closed the door behind her.

“So, Cecilia. What’s a young lady like you doing down here?” He asked, blocking the door.

She sighed. “Listen, thief, I don't care that you've got yourself a job now. Just let me take care of my business.”

“Taking care of everything that goes in and out of this hallway _is_ my business now. So, what are you up to?” His smug grin made Cecilia feel a rage she had never felt before. “I'm not stupid.” He continued. “You're snooping. I saw you before, that night on the wall. I don't know what you're looking for,  but should I tell Freddie about it? It does seem rather suspicious.”

“You nor mister Verheij have any business in what I do outside of my work hours.” Cecilia sighed. “I'm going to leave now, so let me out.”

“You're dressed in full uniform, kiddo. Are you visiting someone here?” He asked, stepping towards her. “Or are you here for me?” Gerbrant winked.  

“Fuck off and leave me alone, thief.” She pushed him into the wall, and walked past him.

“Cecilia? Cecilia Meijer? Talking about traitors, huh.”  A man spoke from a cell. Cecilia froze. “How's your dad doing?” The man continued, sounding sarcastic.

Cecilia turned to Gerbrant. “I- This stays between us, okay? If it doesn't, I'll personally make sure your remains are sent back to whatever hole you crawled out of.” She whispered.

“Oh, hell no, you're not leaving till you tell me what you're doing here. If you really are not going to do that, then the least you could do is answer that man, he asked you a polite question.” Gerbrant snapped back, rubbing his shoulder. Cecilia looked scared, a little sad. “What, did I hurt your fweelings?” He asked.

“Gerbrant, please. Let me out. I won't bother you anymore.” Cecilia said softly, and Gerbrant was taken aback by the complete shift in tone.

Cecilia was breathing quickly now, and Gerbrant was afraid she was having a panic attack. “Shit, kiddo, you okay? Do you need to, uh… sit down or something?” He asked, and pulled her to the chair.

“No- no, just let me go, I...” She stood up, shaking. “I still have to get dinner.”

“Yeah, walk away. I don't want to hear your voice ever again, Meijer.” The man in the cell said.

“Shut up!” She screamed. “You’re rotting in here for what you've done, and I'm still out here, so I think we both know who made the better choice! So shut the fuck up!” Cecilia stormed out of the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

Gerbrant scratched the back of his head in confusion. “What was that about?”

“Don't trust her. She's a bad person, betrayed her father.” The man mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“After her brother was taken away, Jacob Meijer was a broken man. Cecilia apparently didn't care, and joined you… demons as soon as she could. Jacob got exiled.” He stopped for a second. “Seems like it's still a sour topic for that bitch.”

Gerbrant hummed, and sat back down on his chair. He'd ask her about it at dinner, if she was still around at that time.

* * *

 

“Schippers? You're off for today.” The guard he had relieved that morning walked in, and allowed Gerbrant to leave. He quickly walked out, hungry as he was, and left the prisons.

Before he could open the door, Wiesje blocked his way. “Listen, mister Schippers, next time, I'd appreciate it if you told me you were leaving first, m’kay? The rules are a bit stricter around here.” She gave him a pat on the back. “Now, off you go, and I'll see you tomorrow!”

“Yessir- I mean, yes ma’am!” Gerbrant nodded, and ran out, following the same route he had followed that morning. The hallway seemed even darker now that the sun was setting.

When he arrived at the mess hall, people were streaming in from everywhere. He looked around to see if Cecilia was still around, but didn't see her anywhere in the mess of masked and unmasked Guards.

“I'm surprised you're still around.” A familiar voice came from behind, and Gerbrant turned around. Frederic stood behind him, a tray with food in his hands. “To be honest, I thought you'd run after the first day. Of course, you wouldn't have come far, but-” Frederic snickered. “Anyways. You've changed your ways yet?”

Gerbrant quickly grabbed the apple on Frederic's tray, and smiled. “Absolutely not.” He said, taking a bite out of the apple. Frederic slapped his hand, causing the apple to fall to the ground.

“Waste of food. Get your own.” The squad leader said, and walked off.

“Oh, sir!” Gerbrant yelled after him. “Where's Cecilia? I need to talk to her.”

“Working, I hope. Do you need me to pass on a message?” Frederic yelled back.

Gerbrant looked around the mess hall once more. Finally, he shook his head. “No thanks! I'll talk to her once I see her!”

Frederic nodded, and walked towards the table where his friends were seated. Leon noticed Gerbrant, and glared at him. Quickly, Gerbrant sat down at the nearest table, and ate his meal in silence, his helmet next to his food, trying to avoid any more angry stares.

As he ate his chicken, he pondered what to do. Of course, he could try to find her at work, but that would probably end in him getting in trouble.

“Not tonight.” He mumbled. “I'm going straight to bed tonight.”


	4. Secrets

Gerbrant was sure he had never heard a sound more grating than the bird that had decided to decorate his windowsill this early in the morning. Covering his head with the pillow didn’t seem to help much, either, as the bird’s chirpy plea for mates just attracted other birds. Sadly for him, it was still pitch black outside.

“If this is the universe’s way of telling me I need to wake up…” He groaned. Gerbrant flailed his arm around in an attempt to grab his shirt. Once he finally succeeded, he sat up and threw the blanket off of him.

“Holy fuck-” He immediately pulled the blanket back around himself. The morning cold was nearly unbearable. “Right. This is why I don’t wake up early.” He murmured. Changing shirts as quickly as he possibly could to avoid the cold, he knocked over his sword that had been resting against the wall, causing a loud clang. He froze immediately.

When nothing happened, he sighed. “Why am I waking up this early?” Groaning, he started pulling his pants up, and closed both the jacket and the vest. “Stupid layers.” he muttered.

Stepping out of the bed, he hissed when he felt the cold floor. His boots were next to the door. For a second, he closed his eyes, and let out a deep breath. Gerbrant sprinted over to his boots, and immediately ran back to his bed, jumping on top of it. This managed to scare the bird. It flew away in a  wild flurry of feathers.

“Oh, for the love of- Now you decide to leave?” Gerbrant flipped the now empty windowsill off. “You won’t be missed, you piece of shit.” Finally dressed, he left his room. The corridor was still pitch black. None of his day shift colleagues were awake yet.

Once his eyes were used to the dark, Gerbrant silently tiptoed down the stairs, to the front door. The boy grimaced as he remembered how he had gotten so proficient at sneaking out. He wondered how his parents were doing.

The city was softly lit by the glow of a couple of torches, but the warm light didn’t chase the cold away. It was freezing. Gerbrant pulled his cape closer around himself and stepped out the door. The market square seemed dead and empty, but Gerbrant knew that some of his colleagues had to be nearby. And so had Cecilia.

“Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be inside?” A man walked up to him, carrying a torch. Gerbrant was glad he had put his mask on.

“I’m… Taking a stroll. Stretching my legs. Nothing happens inside the Belfort anyways, so they told me I could take a break, you know, as long as I stay close. Not gonna say no to that.” He finished with a wink.

The guard snorted. “Yeah, you’re right. I can imagine it being boring as hell in there. Just grab a torch, you won’t look so lost.”

“Alright, will do! Thanks for the tip.” Gerbrant spun around, and grabbed the nearest torch off the wall. He nodded politely at the guard, and walked on.

“So, the kid arrested me on a bench near the marketplace… which means that she patrols around here…” Gerbrant looked at the many alleyways that led away from the square. They were nearly indistinguishable in the dark.

“That one.” He whispered. He walked and walked for what felt like hours, but looking at the moon, he knew that feeling had to come from his sleepiness. The alleyways were silent. Not even the sound of the guard boots against the stones could be heard, nor the crackling of torches other than his own. The silence was truly unbearable, so Gerbrant started to whistle a tune. Maybe that would attract someone to head his way. He whistled loudly, trying to attract attention.  Finally, he felt a tap on his shoulders.

“Sorry, but you’re not supposed to be here. Are you new? Lost?” A familiar voice. Jackpot.

“Well, actually...” Gerbrant turned around, a huge grin on his face. “I’m right where I need to be. How are you doing, kiddo?”

“Oh, for the love of-” Cecilia groaned. “Can’t you please, please leave me alone? You’re nothing but a mindless, annoying, idiot piece of shit, and everyone’s made it clear by now that they don’t want to talk to you, yet you still seem to target me specifically. What do you want? An apology for me arresting you? Because you’re not going to get that, even though I have my regrets about that meeting.”

“Wow, calm down. Let’s start at the part where you have regrets?”

“Regrets about keeping my sword sheathed instead of just stabbing you.” She hissed.

Gerbrant let out a low whistle. “Wow, impressive talk for a kid. Anyways, surprisingly, that’s not what I wanted to hear. I know, shocker. No, maybe, maybe I’m here for a more wholesome reason, kid.” He sighed dramatically. “But alas, since I’m a mindless, annoying piece of shit-”

“I called you an idiot as well.”

“Don’t twist the blade while it’s already in my heart, Cecilia. Maybe I genuinely just wanted a chat.”

Cecilia squinted, and Gerbrant smiled awkwardly in the torchlight.

“Very well. What do you want.” She finally sighed.

“What were you doing in the cells?”

“Schippers, I'm not going to answer that, you don’t need to know what I'm doing in my free time.” She turned around. “If that's what you wanted to know, just go home and sleep.”

“No, no, I'm not going back to bed. You do not know the troubles I went through to get out of it. I want an actual answer. You come barging into my place of work while _you_ should've been sleeping, then start panicking as soon as someone talks to you, I think I have the right to at least knowing what you were trying to accomplish. The dungeons aren't exactly a popular destination for a nice afternoon stroll, kid.”

“I enjoy exploring the Belfort in my spare time. Ending up in the dungeons wasn't exactly my intention, but I got lost.”

Gerbrant yawned as he replayed her words in his head, slowly connecting the dots. “You're lying.” He finally said.

“What? No?”

“Yeah, you are. You told me you were taking care of business.” His eyes suddenly widened. “Fuck, kid, were you gonna kill someone?”

Cecilia threw her head back and sighed deeply. “Of course not. In contrary to you, thief, I'm not a criminal. Now go home.”

“Does this have to do with your dad?”

She froze. “No, it does not. My father was a traitor. As I’m sure those delightful, honourable, prisoners told you, thief.” The word prisoners was spat with such hatred that Gerbrant took a step back. “So, if that’s everything you wanted to know, I’ll be continuing my patrol now, and look for people that are actually worth my time.”

Gerbrant was silent for a while, but didn’t move. “You know what? I’d like to expand my horizons. See what the night shift’s like. I think I’ll tag along.”

Cecilia rubbed her temples. “No, you won't.”

“Yes, I will. How are you going to stop me?” Gerbrant laughed when she clicked her sword loose. “That’s assault, kid. You’re not gonna get away with assault against a co-worker. And then you’ll be joining me for twelve hours a day, and we can chat and chat while you’re sitting in a jail cell.”

Click. The sword was back in its usual place. Cecilia closed her eyes, turned around, and walked away, Gerbrant skipping close behind her.

“Could you at least walk like a normal person?” Cecilia hissed.

“Sure.”

* * *

 

“Well, apart from the fact that you’ve said a grand total of 3 different words to me these past two hours, I had a lot of fun. My constructive criticism would be to expand your vocabulary from ‘no’ and ‘shut up’ to include more dismissive phrases.”

Cecilia sighed. “Alright, how’s this.” She paused for a second. “Fuck off, Gerbrant, and please never talk to me again.”

“See! Much better!” Gerbrant smiled. “Also, if you ever need help snooping around, just let me know. I’m slightly more capable than you think.”

“Very slightly.” Cecilia answered. She pointed at the mess hall building.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. I’m going. But!” He stuck up a finger in the air and smiled. “I’m very good at distracting people.”

“You’re an asshole, Gerbrant. Get your breakfast or starve on your shift.” Cecilia walked away. Gerbrant snickered and walked inside. He sighed as soon as he was through the door. Despite his various attempts at interrogation, she hadn’t revealed anything.

The mess hall was packed. He knew he was a tad late, but he didn’t expect it to be this busy already. He couldn’t see an empty seat anywhere he looked. As soon as he had his plate, he leaned against the wall and started to eat. Gerbrant ate his meal in silence, and as soon as he was done, ran all the way to the prisons.

“Alright, arriving early should give me some ground to fuck other things up, right?” He whispered, standing in front of the door. However, before he could even open the door, Wiesje opened it for him.

“Oh, hello Schippers! You’re early.” She said, with a bright smile.

“Yeah, I thought, mister, uh…” He trailed off, unable to recall his colleague’s name.

“Mister Blom?”

“Right, mister Blom. I thought he’d like to go to bed a little earlier tonight. Today, I mean. Isn’t that hard, sleeping during the day? All the noises, light…” Gerbrant shrugged. “Well, anyways, I’m here, I’m ready, and I’m on time. Let’s do this.”

Wiesje snickered, and stepped aside to let him pass. “Relieve mister Blom off his post. Oh, and don’t forget, if you’re in danger, scream until we come get you.”

Gerbrant nodded, slowly. “Will do, I guess- I mean, yes ma’am?” He walked past Wiesje and stepped into the hallway leading to the deeper prisons. He didn’t quite understand his squad leader. The prisoners didn’t seem all that dangerous, only tired. Traitors or not, they didn’t look like they could actually harm anyone.

“Hello!” He said, as he opened the door. “You can go home and take a nap!”

His colleague groaned. “Thank you. I was getting sick and tired here. Take care, one of these idiots has decided that the best way to get out of here is to keep whining and crying about it. If he isn’t taken away by tomorrow, I’ll make sure he can’t whine anymore myself.”

Gerbrant smiled awkwardly, and sat down on the now empty stool. “I’ll uh, keep it in mind. Which one is it?”

The other guard pointed at the cell closest to the door, and Gerbrant could hear a soft sob coming out of it. Gerbrant nodded. As soon as Blom was out of the room, he sprinted to the cell.

“You doing okay there?” He asked through the bars.

“...No, of course not.” The tears were audible in the reply, but the voice sounded rather young. “I’m in prison, you piece of shit.”

Gerbrant raised his eyebrows. “Hey now, I’m just trying to help you here. Do you need something to clean your face with?”

The prisoner let out a dry laugh. “What I need is to get home.”

“Well, you and I both know I can't help you with that.” Gerbrant scratched his chin. “Are you sure you don't want a rag, though? Because you might feel better after your face is dry.” Before the prisoner could make another remark, he threw the rag in anyways. “I know, I know, you won't feel better till you're home. But if I let you out, I'll be fired and you'll be back in here in seconds. In fact, I'll probably have to join you. And no one wants that.”

“It would do me good to see you scum behind bars.”

“Yeah, trust me, it won’t if you're behind those bars with me.” Gerbrant sat back down on the stool. “If anyone else needs something that is not an open door or me dead, just say so.”

A different, older man snickered. “What are you, a nurse? You're probably the least intimidating guard they've ever put here. Yesterday you were so on edge, if we said anything, you'd start to scream, and now you're offering us help? Are you stupid?”

“Why does everyone assume I'm stupid when I offer anything? I'm just trying to be nice for one day in my life, and all I'm getting is shit. If my niceness isn't appreciated, I'll just go back to being an asshole, since that's apparently what everyone thinks of me.”

It was silent. After a while, the old man started laughing.

“Wow, kid, you really think this is a good moment to drop all your incredibly hard problems on us?” The man was silent for a while, as Gerbrant tried to find a rebuttal. “Shut up. That would be nice.”

Gerbrant managed to keep his mouth shut for a grand total of five minutes, before boredom caught up to him. After a while of tapping his foot impatiently, he stood up to stretch his legs a bit.

Suddenly, he got an idea. “So, uhm… that Cecilia kid. Do any of you have an idea as to what she was doing here?”

No one responded, and Gerbrant cleared his throat. “Does that mean no one knows, or no one is willing to say anything?” More silence. “This isn’t… Answering that last question isn’t optional, it’s an order, I’m ordering you all to answer that question. You’re getting 5 seconds to speak up, or else… Or else I’ll hurt someone.”

“Yikes, kid, no need to resort to violence.”

Gerbrant wasn’t sure who said it, so he banged his sword against one of the cell bars. “I won’t, if someone answers me.”

“You’re not gonna achieve much if you bang that thing against an empty cell, idiot.” The man who had previously been crying threw the rag back through the bars, and it landed on the floor.

“Frank, at least give him a star for trying. No matter how hard he failed, at least he’s trying to improve. Somewhat.” The older man stood up and walked up to the bars. The torchlight illuminated his weary face and long, unkempt hair.

“I don’t think that was a compliment? Anyways, I, uh, still haven’t gotten that response. Which I obviously want.” Gerbrant placed his hands on his hips and started tapping his foot again.

“Can’t you just ask the bitch yourself? You scum are all buddy-buddy with each other, right?” The old man asked.

“I did. She didn’t answer.” Gerbrant shrugged. “And since you guys told me about her yesterday, I want some more information. It, uh…” Quickly, he thought of a lie. “It seems she’s participating in some illegal activities. I need info to either prevent her from doing anything bad, or get her fired, if that’s what necessary.”

“Well, anything to get Meijer fired, am I right?” The third and last prisoner, who hadn’t spoken up yet, walked up to the bars. It was the man that had addressed Cecilia the day before. He sported a big scar over one eye that made Gerbrant gulp. “Although she was probably just in here to annoy us.”

“Heh. Yeah.” The crying man, apparently named Frank, responded. “Just to rub it in. I feel so sorry for her father.”

“Can I ask why everyone knows her? That seems like an important point here.” Gerbrant asked.

“Jacob Meijer is… was the grocer here. Don’t know which bastard replaced him. Cecilia worked in the shop with her brother. That is, until you scum took Francis away. I’d ask what you’ve done with him, but you’re obviously a newbie.” Frank said. Gerbrant nodded thoughtfully.

“She never even said anything about it. Obviously, she was already so convinced that you fuckers were right she didn’t even give a flying shit about her brother anymore.” The old man added on.

“Now, now, I’m sure she can’t be that bad, I mean-”

“She is. Could you imagine abandoning your family in such a bad time, leaving them behind with such pain?” The scarred man interrupted him, and Gerbrant winced at the question. “Kid, I’m hoping your parents are ashamed of you, but Jacob was a broken man. He had lost his only son, never to be seen again, and when he tried to celebrate his daughter’s birthday, she had left the house to join the people that took his son away.”

“I… Yeah. That, that is bad.” Gerbrant mumbled. “So, uh… what happened to her brother, uh…”

“Francis?” Frank asked. “Never seen again. None of the kids were. By now most of us have just accepted they’re dead. Killed, out of fear of rebellion, by you crazy demons.”

Gerbrant closed his eyes. So that’s what his mother had meant. Why did they never tell him? “I… I’m so sorry to hear that, I…”

At that moment, the door flew open. Wiesje came stomping in, and the three prisoners immediately went back to the back of their cells. Gerbrant took a few cautious steps backwards as well. She seemed fuming.

“Get back, you fuckers!” She screamed. Pure silence. She turned to Gerbrant, and smiled. “Mister Schippers, are they causing trouble? You seem like you have a headache.”

The sudden switch confused Gerbrant. However, he saw the opportunity. “Uh, yeah, actually, I do have a headache. Not feeling too well today.”

“Well, you should’ve said so. Dealing with these kinds of low-lifes needs full focus, after all. I’ll take over for today. You should go home and rest.”

Gerbrant frowned. “Are you sure, ma’am? Isn’t that a lot of extra work?”

“Oh, these guys are no problem for me. At least you’re not working the night shift. Now, get going, okay? Make sure you drink plenty and head in early. Bye!” Wiesje held the door open for Gerbrant. He nodded and walked out. As soon as the door closed behind him, he heard a loud clang and some indistinguishable yelling.

“Yikes.” He mumbled, smirking. He was glad he hadn’t gotten on her bad side yet.

* * *

 

After buying an apple from the merchant he had stolen one from before, Gerbrant walked around the market for a bit. People didn't bump into him anymore, instead moving out of the way, walking around him with a great curve. Everyone seemed frightened. One woman, carrying some vegetables, bumped into him.

“Oh, are you okay? Here, let me pick that up.” Gerbrant winked, and the young woman looked like she was about to cry. As soon as Gerbrant handed her the vegetables, she ran off.

“...Weird.” He mumbled.

“It still surprises you, women running away crying? Honestly, I thought you of all people would be used to that by now.”

Gerbrant shot around, and saw that Frederic had walked up to him, carrying a stack of paper underneath his arm.

“Glad to see you bought the apple for once. I can imagine things tasting better once you pay for them with your hard earned money.” Frederic laughed, and took the apple. “However, you still owe me this one.”

“Oh, come o- I mean, can I have that back, sir?”

“No.”

Gerbrant sighed. “Alright then. I'll just steal a new one.”

“Yeah, do that, if you want to lose your fingers. What are you doing here anyway? Taking a break? Can't imagine the dungeons being a place you can just leave for a second to buy some lunch.”

“I got sent home sick. I have a headache, but miss Mulder seemed… very intent on guarding the prisons herself today. She was kind of angry, to be very honest.” Gerbrant murmured. “But now I'm kind of bored, so I'm just taking a stroll.”

Frederic let out a low whistle. “That's either an incredibly bad lie, or you're lucky you got out when you did. Stay on Mulder’s… good side, okay? And if you're really bored, I can think of some things you could do.” He walked off to a bench on the edge of the market, and set the papers down next to him. As soon as he was settled, he grabbed the first paper from the top of the pile and started to read.

After a few seconds of thinking, Gerbrant darted up to Frederic. “Sorry, sir, but I actually do have a tiny little question. You see, the prisoners do like to yell things at me and sometimes they ask weird questions, and now I'm wondering…”

“If this is going where I think it is, I'd rather not have this discussion. That's one for your parents.” Frederic replied, lifting an eyebrow but not looking up.

“What? Fuck, no, dude! No, geesh, of course not. They ask about the lost sons.”

“Oh.” Frederic looked up. “What do you want to know?” His tone had changed, from slightly joking, to incredibly solemn.

Gerbrant sighed. “So, do you know what happened to them? Like, are they still alive and such?”

“Kid.”

“And does anyone know where they are? Were they-”

“Kid!”

“Taken away to be killed or-”

“Schippers! Shut it!”

Frederic had stood up and grabbed Gerbrant by the shoulders. The squad leader looked angry, yet pale, frightened. Gerbrant nodded slowly, and took a step back.

“So… I'm not getting an answer?” He whispered.

Frederic shook his head. “You're treading on… very, very thin ice here, Schippers. Especially since you're not off the hook yet.” He paused. “But I have no clue. And it's better to refrain from asking around. Talk like this is not taken kindly. Just… assume no one knows anything about the topic, and keep your mouth shut. Do you understand?”

Gerbrant nodded again. His words were barely audible. “Very well, sir. I understand.”


	5. Allies

“Don’t say a thing.”

Gerbrant nodded, slowly, as he was dragged off the market into an alleyway. The hand was gripping his arm tightly. As soon as they were out of sight, he grabbed the hand holding his arm and held it up, loosening his arm.

“Cecilia, what the fuck is going on.” He let go of her hand and placed his hands in his side.

She sighed. “I’m in trouble.”

“Yeah, ok, so wha- Oh.” Gerbrant started laughing. “Okay then. You’re in trouble, and now you… you want my help, don’t you?”

“...Yes. That would be the case.”

“No, no, you don’t get to act all dignified now. You called me an idiot piece of shit just a few hours ago. You can at least actually ask me for my help.” He looked smug, even more so than usual.

Cecilia huffed in anger. “I- Gerbrant, please-” She paused. “This is important, Gerbrant. I’m not fucking around.”

“No, of course not, when are you ever.”

“Fine. I want your help.” She glared at him. “And before you ask why, it’s because you’re the only one stupid enough to be willing to help me out.”

“You’re not exactly making a case for yourself here, you know. Calling me both an idiot and stupid while asking something.” He shrugged. “But alright, I’m game. What’s the trouble? Someone saw you smiling?”

Repressing the urge to slap him, Cecilia displayed a strained smile. “Of course not. Can you stop making shitty remarks for a second? She waited until he nodded, and continued. “I… got spotted. In a place where I shouldn’t have been. By two of my day-shift colleagues. They, they didn’t see my face, but they had a pretty solid suspicion that it was me, and if I don’t have an alibi, they’ll report me to mister Verheij, and that’s not something I want to deal with right now, so-”

“Calm down. No need to panic, I already said I’d help.” Gerbrant cut her off, and Cecilia nodded. “So, what were you doing? Snooping?”

“None of your business, once again.” She replied, after a second of thinking.

“Kid, you’re having panic attacks over this. You’re nearly hyperventilating. And you’re making it my business.” He looked around. “But fine. You can tell me after we solve this problem. So, what do you want me to do, tell them you were with me all day?” Gerbrant ended his sentence with a wink, causing Cecilia to take a repulsed step back.

“Gerbrant, I swear to god, if you say anything stupid like that I’ll gut you-” She stopped suddenly, as she heard her name being called from around the corner. “Don’t. Say. Anything. Stupid.” She hissed, and walked towards the sound, mentioning for Gerbrant to follow her.

“Ah, Meijer, there you are! Already out and about? Or still not in bed?” The tallest of the two asked. Gerbrant didn’t recognize either of them.

“Oh, you know me,” Cecilia replied, with a broad smile. “I don’t need much sleep. As long as I have something to do, I prefer that over being asleep!”

 Gerbrant coughed to avoid breaking out into laughter, causing the shorter one to point at him. “Who’s your friend?”

“Not really a friend, he’s-”

“No need to be rude, Cecil. Besides, I can talk for myself.” Gerbrant smiled broadly at the two older men. “Hi, my name is Gerbrant, but my friends call me Gerry. You might remember me as the new recruit from a while back-”

“Weren’t you the kid that got fired two days ago?” The short guard asked, waiting patiently for an answer.

“...Or that, yes.” Gerbrant sighed.

It was silent for a while, before Cecilia let out a laugh. “Anyways, now that we've got that out of the way, you were calling me? Is something wrong?”

The taller man cleared his throat. “Yes, actually. Meijer, what were you doing around the Belfort? Especially looking into the prisons. You know you’re not supposed to be there, right? Especially not since you’re off duty.”

Cecilia looked at Gerbrant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said. “I haven’t been around the Belfort all day.”

“We saw you.”

Gerbrant smiled and took a step forward. “Guys, this must be a mistake.” He coughed for a while. “She can’t have been at the Belfort, unless she like, knocked me out. And I don’t have any bruises.” He laughed weakly as the two guards stared at him. “What I’m trying to say is, she hung out with me all day. I’m sick, she offered to take care of me for the day. As friends do.”

The two guards looked at each other, and then back at Gerbrant. “Are you sure she didn’t knock you out?” The shorter one asked. “Because I’m pretty sure-”

“Oh, come on, you know that’s not like Meijer at all.” The tall guard furrowed his brows. “Guess we must’ve been wrong.”

“Sorry for the confusion. I’ll try to stay in bed tomorrow.” Cecilia was still smiling broadly.

The taller guard laughed and nodded. “Yes, that probably would be for the best. Well, off you two go then, make sure he stays alive. We’ve got to get back to work. Wouldn’t want mister Verheij to get mad at us for slacking off.”

“Alright, good luck!” Cecilia waved at them as they walked away. As soon as they were out of sight, the smile fell from her face and she leaned back against a while, sighing as she did so.

“Fuck, that was close.” She whispered.

“Yeah, well, hey, we did it, right?” He laughed as she remained silent. “Right, friend?”

He wouldn’t call the punch in his stomach that followed entirely unexpected, but definitely unwarranted. “Ouch! Not necessary!”

“Correct. Yet I did it anyway, because you’re both the worst liar I’ve ever seen and it’s a goddamn miracle they didn’t see through that, and because I’m not your friend.” A pause. “But thank you. You saved my hide just now.”

“Do mention it.” He replied with a wink. “But more to the point. You promised me something.”

“I didn’t promise anything?”

“Oh, come on Cecilia! I’m not asking for a full life story, I just want to know what you were doing over there! If you need something from the prisons, I can help out!”

“Why are you so intent on helping me, Gerbrant? I’ve been doing perfectly fine, you know.” She sighed. “Just leave me to my stuff, and I’ll leave you to yours.”

“Cecilia, I’ve caught you twice already, and I had to save you just now! If you were doing fine before, then you’re getting sloppy now!” He was getting louder and louder. “I know I’m probably not the best person to have as a friend, but I’m offering my help right here and now.”

“I don’t need it!”

“You obviously do!” Gerbrant pinched the bridge of his nose. “But you know what, fine. I won’t help you out anymore. I’m heading home. After all, I need to recover from this horrible sickness I’m apparently suffering from. Good luck with whatever it is you’re searching, kid.”

“...Thank you.” Cecilia said, so softly that Gerbrant could barely hear her.

After taking one step away, he immediately turned around again. “I do have one thing I still want to say.”

“What is it?” She sighed.

“You’re a very convincing actress. I almost thought you felt genuinely happy to talk to them.”

Cecilia snorted. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Oh, and, uhm…” He shrugged. “I’m sorry about what happened to your brother. I know you don’t care much for your family, but, still, it’s pretty awful to lose your brother like that.”

Her expression switched from mildly amused to shocked in an instant. “Who- Who told you about that? Have you been asking around about me? What the fuck is wrong with you! Why would you even do that, are you mental?”

“Calm down! They- The prisoners told me about your family the second after you left, okay?” Gerbrant hissed. “I only asked about what happened to the lost sons, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry for your loss!”

“He’s not dead!”

Cecilia’s yell pierced through the otherwise silent alley. “He’s- He’s not dead, I know it- He’s okay.” She whimpered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Gerbrant walked back up to her, as she was now slowly collapsing against the wall. “Hey, hey, it’s okay… No need to cry, you’re gonna be fine…” He was talking softly, in an effort to calm her.

“I _am_ fine, you idiot!” She yelled, stepping away from him.

“...You’re literally crying, right now.” Gerbrant groaned when she shook her head. “Listen, I know I just told you you’re a good actress, but this is just bullshit. Take a deep breath, okay?” He waited until she did. “Alright, good. Now tell me about your brother. How do you know he’s still alive? Have you seen him?”

“I- Well, no-” She huffed. “I just know. Stop trying to get information out of me.”

“I’m literally trying to help you out here, once again, just a subtle reminder, I’m here to help.” He paused and furrowed his brows. “Is that what you’re snooping around for?”

“What?” Cecilia whispered.

“Is that why you’re snooping around all the time? Are you looking for your brother?” He let out a humourless laugh when she stayed silent. “Fuck, I’m spot on, aren’t I? What would even happen when someone finds out?”

“I’m not about to find out, am I?”

“No, no, of course not, don’t worry!” Gerbrant shook his head wildly. “I’m not a snitch, honestly!”

“...I really don’t want to find out.” She let out a deep breath. “Very well. I’m going to head home now, I think.”

“So what do you want me to do?” He asked.

“Well, nothing.” She laughed. “I want you to stay away, I want you to go home, and I want you to forget this conversation.”

“Yeah, well, we both know that’s not going to happen. Where have you looked? I’ve seen you at the wall, for whatever reason, I mean, did you really think he’d be in the wall?” He stopped when he noticed the girl’s glare. “Right, sorry. So, walls, my cells, and just now the prison again. Where else?”

“Everywhere inside the city. A big area outside the city. I didn’t spend the last year sitting around.” She responded after a second of thinking.

“Okay, so, what do you think happened to him?”

“If I knew, it would make this search a lot easier, now wouldn’t it.” She sneered.

“If we’re gonna work on this as a team, I want to establish two rules: One, I make the sarcastic remarks, and two, I make the team name.”

“The what now.”

“Team name! You know, like, team cool kids, team tall and short-”

“Gerbrant, I’m at most five centimetres shorter than you. Stop being childish.”

“Or team Childish! Perfect!” He scratched his chin. “Actually, no, that’s a pretty bad name. I’ll come up with one soon enough. For now, let’s come up with a plan.”

Cecilia groaned. “One entire year of not talking to anyone, and this motherfucker comes along and ruins everything…” Her mutters weren’t quite loud enough to reach Gerbrant. “You want a plan? I continue looking, and you back me up whenever I need it.”

“I can look during night-time. You know, when you’re working?” Gerbrant shrugged. “Just an idea. I mean, the backing each other up part, that’s obvious, right? But other than that, I’m already in deep enough shit, so people won’t really look up if I do anything stupid.”

“You’re proposing… to act even more stupid than you already do… to help me out?” Cecilia looked confused. “What is that even going to achieve?”

“Well, I got away with asking Frederic about the lost sons. But he doesn’t know anything, so that’s one person we can cross off the list.” He smiled awkwardly as Cecilia stared at him, wide-eyed. As soon as he started to wave his hand in front of her eyes, she snapped out of her shock.

“I'm sorry, but… What? Why did you even think that asking mister Verheij, or any guard for that matter, about the disappearances, would be a good idea?”

“Well, the guards watch things, right? At least, I've been told that's a pretty big part of my job description.” Gerbrant noticed Cecilia had started tapping with her foot, and cleared his throat. “Well, anyways, if you watch things, you know things, so obviously, asking Frederic about it is a logical step. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because, you dunce, the guards are the ones that took the sons away in the first place.”

Gerbrant could feel the information click into place. “...Oh. That… _Oh._ ”

Cecilia sighed. “Listen, Gerbrant, I’ll think of something for you to do. For now, maybe just go home and try not to get fired while not even working.”

“I’ll, uh, do my best.”

* * *

 

After spending the remainder of the afternoon in the bar, Gerbrant headed back to the mess hall for dinner. Most of the night shift guards were just leaving, and he spotted Cecilia in the crowd. He waved, but she didn’t see him, or she ignored him. Gerbrant sighed. His lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him.

Stifling a yawn, he snickered. “And to think I used to spend most of my nights …” Slowly, he lifted his mug, before setting it back down without drinking. He looked down at his feet. After closing his eyes for a few seconds, Gerbrant downed the contents of his mug in a flash. Cleaning his mouth, he reached for the bread on his plate and started crumbling it to pieces. Crumb after crumb fell down on his plate.

“I can’t leave.” He thought. “If I leave, I’ll get thrown into jail, and…” The chills running down his spine added on to the feeling of dread that was creeping up on him. “And then I won’t be of any help. I need to find a way to contact them.”

A letter. Gerbrant threw his head back. The most obvious option had flown over his head completely. He would just write his parents a letter, and ask the nearest courier to bring it to-

“Yeah, well, stupid, that leaves you with one big problem.” Gerbrant muttered to himself. There was no way he could write the letter. The only thing he knew how to write was his name, and even that was barely legible, at least, so he’d been told. Yawning again, he continued to pick the bread apart.

“Leave something for the birds, kid.” An older guard sat down next to him, accompanied by some friends. “Or stop playing with your fucking food. You’re getting crumbs everywhere.”

Gerbrant blinked, slowly. “...Right.” A sleepy grin adorned his face. “What are you going to do about it?” Pain surged through his hand as the bread was slapped out of it. The other guards at the table laughed, and Gerbrant huffed as he went back to eating the remainders of his soup. The soup had cooled down long ago, but it didn’t matter much; Gerbrant hadn’t been thinking about his dinner since he sat down.

“Who’d be willing to write the letter for me?” He sighed. Finding some clerk to do it wouldn’t work out, as everyone was supposed to be terrified of the guards and writing a letter to your parents wasn’t exactly terrifying. Korda was tired enough as it was already, and going to the squad leaders seemed like a bad idea too. Gerbrant shuddered at the thought of dictating the letter to Wiesje.

“Maybe Cecilia knows how to write.” He thought, as he stretched his arms above his head. He’d still get laughed at, but at least she probably wouldn’t hold it against him for ages.

That brought him to the second problem. He had promised to help Cecilia find her brother, but they’d need a lead first.

“Proof that he isn’t dead would be nice too.” He chuckled, but shut up immediately as he noticed the other guards staring at him. Gerbrant sighed as he realised how little he knew about the situation. Of course, he knew he had been living a fairly sheltered life the first second he stepped into the city, but he never realised how badly.

“So the sons, they get taken away, never seen again, and if anyone protests, they end up in jail.” He summed his knowledge up in his head. “The sons, only the sons, get taken away by the guards and-”

Gerbrant almost choked on his cold soup. “Fuck, that’s it” He hissed, after he finally managed to breathe again. “The guards. We just need to-” He stood up and shoved his chair back, the wood scraping loudly against the stone floor. Leaving the rest of his meal behind, he stalked over to the table where Frederic and his friends were seated.

Leon saw him first. “What are you doing, making that much noise?” He asked.

“Shu- I mean, sorry, I didn’t mean to. I-” Gerbrant stuttered. The amount of sleep deprivation was making him sluggish, and paying attention to his words proved hard.

“Forget it. What do you want?” Leon asked, rolling his eyes at the boy’s incompetence.

“I need to talk to Cecilia. Meijer. Cecilia Meijer.”

“You said the same thing yesterday.” Frederic sighed. “As I said, she's working, but if you want me to pass on a message-”

Gerbrant cut him off. “No, no, it's urgent, but I just need to where she is so-”

“What the fuck do you want from her?” Leon said, looking worried. “If she hasn’t told you where she is herself, why would we tell you? What are you up to?”

“Oh, come on, it's not like that! We're friends, she needs my help!” Gerbrant pleaded. The four guards looked at each other for a second, before Frederic started laughing.

“Yeah, right. And I'm the pope.” He turned a little more serious. “Last warning. You can either have me pass the message, or wait until you see her. I have no reason to tell you where Meijer is, especially since I don’t know what you’re planning to do.”

Gerbrant closed his eyes and sighed. “I'm telling the truth.”

“Then you'll have no problem telling me what you want to say, seeing as you came for my help in the first place.” Frederic stared at Gerbrant, until the latter turned his face away. Frederic nodded and went back to eating his soup.

“Why am I so hard to believe?” Gerbrant yawned.

“Because you're a spoiled little brat who hasn't shown any signs of genuine friendliness since day one.” Leon said, waving around his empty spoon. “One last word of advice: if you show respect, people will show you respect too. Might help you out of situations like these. At least people won't assume the worst out of you.”

Evelijne cleared her throat. “You can still earn your respect, Gerbrant, it's not a hopeless case. Just… It's gonna take a while.”

Gerbrant nodded, looking disappointed. “Thanks, I guess. I'm… I'll just talk to her whenever I see her next.”

He walked away, leaving the others to their meal. “Guess I'll just wait at the mess hall tomorrow morning.”

* * *

 

This time, Gerbrant was awoken by a slight ray of sunshine shining through the window. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and got dressed faster than he had ever before, and was out of the building before anyone else had even woken up. After eating his breakfast as fast as he could, he immediately stormed out to the market again. Cecilia was watching over some people setting up their stalls.

“Hey, psst!” He hissed as he was waving at her to come over. Cecilia noticed him quickly enough and walked over.

“What's the matter?”

“I've figured it out!”

“What, where my brother is?” She whispered in disbelief. “By sleeping?”

“No, what we need to do now! To find him!”

“Uh, okay? So, what is it?” Cecilia looked confused now.

“Well, you know how you told me the guards were the ones that took the sons away, right? So that means a guard took your brother as well, right?” He waited until she slowly nodded. “Well, I know what we need to do. We don't need to know his location yet. We just need to interrogate the guard that took him.”


	6. Guards

“Gerbrant, I really appreciate the idea, but…” Cecilia hesitated.

“But what? It's a solid plan, and we have to start somewhere, right? You can't just keep waiting forever.”

“What are you planning to do once we've found him? Just ask where he took my brother? And besides, it's been years, I barely remember anything.”

Gerbrant frowned, looking doubtful. “You're lying again, aren't you.” Gerbrant noticed she turned her face away slightly, proving his point. “Cecilia, all you've been doing so far is inspecting walls and walking in circles. It's the best, if not the only plan we have right now.”

“I'm… just not comfortable with the idea, Gerbrant. If we get found out, we're both dead, you do realise that, right? It's just not a feasible plan.” Cecilia glared at a man walking by, causing him to adjust his course for a little more distance from the two guards. Gerbrant snickered at the interaction.

“Alright, fine. We'll do something else.”

“You have another suggestion?”

“Erm…” Gerbrant scratched his chin. “We could… go to your old home?”

“I'm not supposed to go there aside from necessary shopping, or at least, it'd be considered highly suspicious, so that's out of the-” Cecilia looked at Gerbrant, almost scanning him. “But, of course, you're in the clear.” She snickered. “And the store's open till eight, so if you hurry with eating… That's not a bad idea, actually. I can just pretend I'm showing you around town.”

“See?” Gerbrant laughed loudly. “I'm not totally useless!” He winked and Cecilia raised her eyebrows, but she seemed to be staring at something behind him. Gerbrant turned around, slowly. Looking up, he could see a smirking face staring at him.

“I'm not sure if miss Mulder is thinking the same thing right now, Schippers,” Frederic spoke. “You're late.”

“Oh, ah, I-” Gerbrant stuttered. “Fuck!” He dashed off, to the small side door leading to the dungeons, bumping into other people left and right. Cecilia laughed behind her hand.

“Making friends with thieves, Meijer?” Frederic asked jokingly.

“Wouldn't go that far, sir.” She replied swiftly, without hesitation. “I'm simply helping him out a bit, showing him around town. A bit of an apology, really. I probably didn't need to smack his face into the wall.”

“I see.” Her squad leader grinned. “No one blames you, I can tell you that much. He's a bit of a prick.”

“Let's call it a work in progress. I'm pretty sure there's some improvement, somewhere. He didn't call me a child throughout that entire conversation, so, hey.” Cecilia laughed. “Counting my blessings.”

Frederic hummed in agreement. “You can count those over breakfast. Time for you to head home.” he said, happily.

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

 

The fact that someone sat down next to Gerbrant during dinner was jarring enough on its own. The added factor that that person was Cecilia made Gerbrant almost choke on his chicken.

“What the fuck?” He managed to say after his heavy coughing fit.

“I don't often get the chance to eat dinner at a normal time. I wouldn't be able to stomach this if I had just woken up. So when I get a day off, I use it to get a nice dinner for once.” She paused. “So, how was your day?”

“Small talk, eh? Alright, gotcha. Pretty good, aside from the shit I got over being late. Yours?”

“Garbage.” She took a bite of her chicken. “Mostly spent sleeping.”

Gerbrant hummed in understanding. However, he couldn't think of anything to reply anymore. Cecilia rolled her eyes at the silence that fell.

“For someone as cocky as yourself you sure have the social skills of a dead mouse. Do you just expect someone to run away within seconds of the first few words? Is that why you don't have anything to say now?” Cecilia grinned when Gerbrant glared at her. “And I'm not even asking for anything substantial.”

“Hey, shut up. You just glare instead of talking nine out of ten times.” Gerbrant muttered the last part into his mug, making it almost, but not quite impossible to hear.

Cecilia had caught enough of the message and snorted. “To you, yes. But don't mistake resentment for ineptitude.”

“What?”

“Just because I hate you doesn't mean I can't talk, numbskull.”

Gerbrant stuttered to find a rebuttal. “You- Fuck off, dude! We're past that already, you can stop hating me now if you really want me to help you!”

“Which is why I'm talking to you.” Cecilia smiled as she ate the last of her bread. “Well, I'm off. I'll be meeting you in a few at the well, and make sure you wear something socially acceptable. The uniform isn't… approachable.” She stood up and left Gerbrant alone, who, still sulking, stuffed the rest of his food in his mouth.

“Fucking… Rude-ass piece of shit…” He muttered, mouth still full as he left the table as well. The urge to just head to his room and sleep for the night was great, but just for himself, he couldn’t let Cecilia down. She was obviously still counting on him, despite her comments. He’d just have to find a good rebuttal while getting dressed.

He got dressed as quickly as humanly possible, and immediately ran out to the market again. When he saw the mass of people walking around, he groaned. How was he ever supposed to find Cecilia in this mess? The market wasn't huge, but at this time of day most people met up outside to either go to the nearest tavern or just to chat. No one made way for him either, causing him to stumble into people more often than not.

At last, he remembered the other thing she had mentioned. “Fuck, right. The well.” He looked around and after a few seconds of searching, spotted the well. Preparing for a sprint, he felt a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. He turned around.

“Oh, hey Cecil- No, wait. I'm calling you kid again till you apologise.” Gerbrant crossed his arms.

“I can deal with that.” Cecilia shrugged. “Anyways, back to making you useful. You're going to distract whoever’s keeping the shop. I'll see what I can remember, or if I can find anything that hasn't been replaced.”

“Whatever, kid. Let's just go. I'm getting cold.” He replied, and Cecilia snorted. Without any hesitation, the two made their way to the grocer.

* * *

 

“Well, that was fucking useless.” Cecilia kicked a rock in frustration, which almost hit Gerbrant. It bounced off of the wall and into a puddle of water.

“Hey! Careful with that!” Gerbrant sighed in exasperation at the lack of response. “Listen, I can’t help it that she kicked us out. Can you stop sulking?”

Cecilia remained silent. Now even more frustrated, Gerbrant buried his face in his hands and started leaning against the wall. He spent a few minutes muttering and moping before Cecilia started walking away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Gerbrant yelled after her.

“Home.” She replied.

Gerbrant got up and started jogging after her. “Home? We’re not done yet, are we? I’m not giving up till we find something, anything at least.

“Gerbrant, I’ve been looking for more than three years. I’ve seen every nook, every cranny of this godforsaken city, more than once. I haven’t been at my old house for more than a year, and this was my chance, and I didn’t find anything before you blew it. So I’m pretty sure I won’t find my brother today, and probably not anywhere close to here.” She sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Listen, I’m going home to think, and I think I already know what I need to do next.”

“...You’re planning to leave the city.” Gerbrant muttered.

“Yeah.”

“Cec- I mean, kid, trust me, you’re not going to find anything without a lead.” Gerbrant shrugged. “I might not know anything around here, but I know the forests. And I’ve seen the fields. They’re dense, huge, and nearly impossible to navigate. You’ve got tunnel vision, okay? You can’t do that alone, searching the entire county. Just… Cool it.”

Cecilia closed her eyes. “...Very well. What do you suggest.”

“We go back to my original plan, and find the man who took your brother in the first place.”

“Gerbrant, he’ll rat us out.” She sighed. “Not everyone is as oblivious as you, no offense intended.”

“...None taken, I guess.” Gerbrant replied begrudgingly.

“Do you even realise what I’m doing?” Cecilia was picking at her sleeve and looking around nervously. “Or do you just think it’s a nice, funny game? People get banished when they ask too many questions.”

“If you’re so against everything here, why did you even join the guards in the first place?”

“Information. Protection. Not in the same way you did, of course. Protection from suspicion, in a way. I try to think about what I do.” Cecilia replied.

“You think about it too much. In your attempt to avoid risks you’ve- you’ve avoided progress!” Gerbrant stumbled over his words. “If you want your brother back, and I know you do, you can’t keep playing it safe! So…” He paused for a second. “So step it up, okay? Sometimes you just have to do something dangerous. I mean, look at me! I never think about what I do, and I’m doing okay!”

“...Actually-”

“No, shut up. Not right now. You get my point.” Gerbrant muttered.

The silence that fell lasted for ages. Cecilia looked almost sad, but she was very obviously trying to hide any emotion as the thoughts ran through her head. Gerbrant took a step backwards, to distance himself. When Cecilia still didn’t talk, he sighed.

“I’m going to the bar.” He muttered. “If you come along, I’ll buy you a round.”

“Why the bar, of all places. That won’t help at all.” Cecilia whispered.

“Well, kid, if you’re not going to put in any effort, then I don’t have to either, and I can just drink for the rest of the evening. I’ll have a headache tomorrow, but that’s fine. On the other hand…” He started picking at his fingernails. “If you do come along, the bar is where everyone is at this time of day. If we’re going to spot the man anywhere, it’s going to be there.”

Cecilia’s eyes widened. “You lied.”

“Huh? What?”

“You just said you never think about anything you do,” Cecilia said. “But you lied. You do think about what you do.”

“Oh, my-” Gerbrant groaned in frustration. “Are you coming along or what? I’m not going to even try keeping up with your thought process.”

“Fine. You’re paying.”

* * *

 

The bar was packed. Gerbrant ignored the crowd and pushed through, heading straight for the bartender. He placed two coins on the bar, and within a few moments, two mugs of beer were set down on the counter.

“Cheers.” Cecilia said, half-shouting to make sure she was audible over the noise. “So, what- Wait, no. This is not going to work.” She pulled a piece of paper and some charcoal from a pocket, and placed it down on the counter, but Gerbrant shook his head.

“Can’t read. That’s not going to work either.” He scratched the back of his head. “But talking about that, I’m going to need your help with something. I want to write a letter.”

“That can wait, right?”

“...Not really. It’s complicated. I’m pretty sure my parents think I’m d- Nevermind. Let’s just find the dude.”

“What dude, Schippers?” A pair of hands grabbed Gerbrant’s shoulders, who almost spat out his beer. Leon and Evelijne had walked up to the two. “Didn’t expect to see you here. Is he harassing you, miss?”

“Nothing I can’t handle, sir. Gerbrant and I are just enjoying a beer.” Cecilia smiled.

“You’re Meijer, right? I’ll be keeping a close eye on you, Schippers.” Leon pointed at the boy accusingly, and Cecilia raised an eyebrow.

Gerbrant groaned. “Yes, sir. Fine. You do you. Can I go back to having fun now? Sir?”

Evelijne threw a friendly smile at the two before softly nudging Leon to move away, who was still glaring at Gerbrant. As soon as the two were gone, Cecilia turned towards Gerbrant, a worried expression visible on her features.

“Are you in trouble?” She asked, looking over Gerbrant’s shoulders at the group of guards Leon and Evelijne had joined.

“No, no, well… They think I’m a pervert, for whatever reason. It’s fine.” He winked. “After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”

“You’re unbearable.”

“Yeah, well, it’s my middle name.” Gerbrant laughed, and took another swig. “Have you seen anyone yet? What are we looking for?”

“...An angry guy wearing a mask.”

“And you have the gall to call me unbearable.” Gerbrant rolled his eyes theatrically. “I’m pained, shorty. Any defining features?”

“I know who we’re looking for, okay? I’ve- I did keep track.”

“There we go. That’s the scheming little girl I know. Just let me know when you’ve found him.” Gerbrant finished his mug and called the bartender over for another one. Soon, he had finished three mugs, while Cecilia was still slowly drinking from her first one.

Gerbrant snickered, slightly surprised. “Are you… Are you ever going to finish that?”

Cecilia’s eyes darted between her mug and a group of men seated next to a window. In one swift motion, she downed the rest of her beer, and turned around on her stool to once again face the bar.

“I think that’s him. The ginger.” She whispered, barely loud enough for Gerbrant to hear. She looked anxious. Gerbrant leaned back so he could see the man, and turned to his friend. Cecilia was nervously drawing circles on the wood, looking down at the floor as much as possible.

“Are you doing okay? Do you need another drink?” Gerbrant asked. ”I’m not paying for the third one, but this one’ll be on me.”

“No, I’m fine.” Cecilia said, and Gerbrant raised an eyebrow. “Really, but it’s still nerve-wracking to see the guy you’ve avoided for so long, Gerbrant. He ripped my family apart, remember.”

“Right. Which is why we’re going to rip him apart.” Gerbrant’s off-hand comment sent Cecilia in a coughing fit so bad that he genuinely thought she was about to choke. He slapped her on the back a few times, until she could breathe again.

“Gerbrant, no!” She almost shouted. “You can’t just say things like that, my god.”

“I was kidding, relax.”

“Someone could’ve heard you.”

“Well, that’s too bad. ‘S not as if I care.” Gerbrant set down his mug. “While we’re here, can I ask you something?”

“Haven’t you asked me enough?” Cecilia murmured, and Gerbrant let out a snicker.

“I meant a favour, kid. You, uhm…” Gerbrant hesitated, and scratched the back of his head. “You know how to write, right? Are you any good at it?”

“That’s not a favour. That’s a question.” Cecilia replied, and Gerbrant rolled his eyes. “But yeah, I like to think so. Why? Need help filing the reports sent in against you, because your squad leader got fed up with them?”

“No, I- I want to write a letter. To my parents. So they know I’m okay. This entire thing has made me think, and… Y’know. I don’t want them to think I’m…” Gerbrant trailed off. “But I can’t do that. Writing, I mean. Won’t get much further than just my name. So, you know, I thought-“

“Yeah. That’s fine.” Cecilia replied, a hint of melancholy in her voice. An awkward silence lingered between the two of them, as they both stared at the wooden bar, neither of them wanting to continue on the topic.

After a few moments of silent thought, Gerbrant cleared his throat. “So, what do we do now?”

Cecilia sighed. “I thought this was your genius plan.”

“It is,” Gerbrant replied, smugly. “But I don’t know anything about this man. So, what does he do, how do we kidnap him, is he single-”

“If we don’t get killed, I’ll make sure you won’t see the light of day ever again after we’re done with this.” Cecilia rubbed her temple as if she was starting to get a headache as Gerbrant snorted. “Anyways, I don’t know much about him. He’s- I think he works on the wall now? But as I said, I don’t know too much, I don’t really get to talk to people on the wall very often.”

Gerbrant furrowed his brows. “Listen, kiddo, I don’t know about you, but I think I’d get killed by anger-management issues over there as soon as I even step near that brick thing.” He pointed at Leon. “He’s very protective and- What’s the word? Resentful.”

“Then we’ll have to… We’ll have to take him while mister Stuivenberg isn’t working.” Cecilia replied. “It’s possible. The squad leaders usually leave a bit before dinner so they can talk to the night squads and discuss anything that need to be discussed, so…” She trailed off. “On top of that, if we take him before mister Stuivenberg comes back, he won’t think anything happened, because at that point the night shift should’ve taken over.”

“Fuck, that’s solid, Ce- Kiddo. That’s a solid plan.” Gerbrant said, as he mentioned for some more drinks. “That’s the most solidest plan I’ve heard in a while, aside from my own, of course.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Cecilia muttered.

“As you should. Now- “ He handed her a mug. “I’m going to get shitfaced, and you’re going to join me, because you look like you’re about to collapse in on yourself out of sheer stress. Cheers!” He tapped his mug against Cecilia, who stared at him with a bewildered expression. Gerbrant sighed. “If you don’t drink that I’m going over to ginger over there and tell him he’s an asshole for stealing kids.”

Cecilia’s eyes widened, and she angrily drank half her mug in one go.

Gerbrant snickered. “There we go.”

* * *

 

Gerbrant’s colleague had been willing to start a little earlier, so Gerbrant could meet up with Cecilia in time. However, it had started to storm. The rain was pouring down, and Gerbrant was soaking wet the second he stepped outside the mess hall. Cecilia was already waiting, her face covered to the point that only her eyes were visible. The cloth around her face was dripping with water. The combined sight of her angry eyes with the droopy cloth made Gerbrant emit a nervous snicker.

“Nice touch. The headscarf, I mean. Not the water.” He said.

“I have one for you too. It’s a bit wet, of course, but… It’ll hide your face.” Cecilia handed him a scarf. She kept on fidgeting as he wrapped his face, and finally let out a sigh. “Ok. I- It’s probably the best idea if we knock him out. He won’t be able to see much, or, you know…”

“Scream.” Gerbrant replied, curtly.

“Yeah, scream. So, I thought I’ll knock him out, and… You can help me lift him up, and then…” She trailed off again.

“Right. Yeah. And then? Where do we take him?”

Cecilia took a deep breath. “There’s a farmhouse just outside the city. The owners are exiled now.” She paused. “Their shed is empty. We just need to get him on the other side of the wall. But- You know your way around there, right?”

“I- I guess.” Gerbrant stammered. He closed his eyes for a second. “Okay then. Let’s just do it before we both bail out.”

“Yeah.” Cecilia whispered. The combination of the autumn storm with the nearly set sun made the city dark. Torches wouldn’t be of much use. All things considered, it was perfect weather for an abduction. They passed through alleys, careful not to be noticed by anyone, careful not to make a sound. The howling wind provided the cover for the sound of their feet stepping through the occasional puddle.

“I'm going to catch a cold…” Gerbrant whispered. They were nearing the wall, and stopped. After a few seconds of scanning the wall, Gerbrant pointed at a door, slightly opened, but barely noticeable due to the lack of light coming from inside.

“Right there. If he's on this side on the wall, like you say he is, that's our best shot.”

“Is that door supposed to be open?” Cecilia asked.

“Well, no.” Gerbrant snickered. “But everyone agrees that as long as the doors on the other side are locked, nothing can happen anyways. So… we- I mean, they keep the ones on the inside open.”

Cecilia smirked in response. “That seems unsafe. How are we going to get to the other side then?”

“How long has he been working here?”

“Couple of years.”

“Then he should have a key.” Gerbrant whispered. He took a step forward, but immediately pressed himself and Cecilia back around a corner. Two guards ran by, taking cover underneath their capes. Gerbrant and Cecilia stayed against the wall for a few moments, careful to not even breathe.

Gerbrant let out a deep breath, and looked around the corner to check the surroundings. “Talk about timing.” He closed his eyes and balled his fist, an attempt to calm himself down. He was pretty sure he could hear his heart pounding. After a few seconds passed, he exhaled again, and rubbed his cheeks. Cecilia stayed silent.

“Okay, let’s go.” Gerbrant looked around once more, and took a sprint towards the open door, Cecilia following close behind him. As soon as they were both inside, Cecilia softly closed the door.

“And now we wait?” Cecilia asked.

“No. That’s too risky. We’ll just walk like we belong here, it’s too dark to see much anyway.” Gerbrant whispered back. “As soon as we see him, we knock him out.”

“I’m starting to think I should give you more credit. You sound like you’ve done this before.” She replied, sounding concerned. “Have you?”

“Of course not.” He hissed. “Or, well… Not here. Different circumstances. But I’m capable of thinking, you know. Fuck.” The last part was aside, an unintentional addition.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’m just… Let’s get this over with.”

Together, they walked up the staircase.


	7. Questions

“We better act quickly.” Cecilia murmured as soon as they stood on the wall. The rain was starting to let up.

“Heh. Yeah.” Gerbrant’s laugh was devoid of any humour. “Before they light the torches, still wet from being outside in the rain.” The joke fell flat. Neither of them so much as snorted as they walked along the wall, careful to stay as close to the battlement as possible. Somehow, it gave Gerbrant a sense of security. It felt like a place to hide.

In the distance, they could see the vague silhouette of a man. They crouched. Gerbrant squinted, mainly to estimate distance, but Cecilia started rustling in a pocket. After a second, she lifted a pebble, and placed a finger in front of her mouth.

The pebble flew through the air and landed near the man.

“Hey! Who's there?” He shouted. A moment of silence, as the patting rain was all that could be heard. “Is that you, Hans? Come out now and I won't hurt you!” The man took a few quick steps around.

Gerbrant was watching the scene with a sense of uneasiness. When he felt a tap on his shoulder, he almost jumped back.

“It's him.” Cecilia mouthed. “Now’s our chance.” She waited for Gerbrant to nod. After he did, she took the dagger from her belt. A split second of hesitation passed, before she took a sprint.

“Hey, wait, who's-” The man's words were cut short by a sickening thud, followed by another one. He collapsed onto the floor. Cecilia had hit him straight in the temple.

Gerbrant swallowed and stood up. “Erm, well done.” He said. “We should… check if he has the keys.”

Cecilia nodded silently. “He does.” She whispered, and held up a bundle of keys, previously tied to the man's belt. She cut them loose.

“Good, good… I'll, uhm, carry him, if you lead the way. The other door is near where we came from.” He started to lift the man over his shoulder. Somehow, he was heavier than expected. Cecilia helped Gerbrant steady himself, and then started walking back towards the other door, nearly running in her effort to hurry. Gerbrant could barely keep up the pace. The man was still breathing. Good, he thought. At least I'm not lugging around a dead body.

Cecilia helped him carry the body down the stairs. “Are you sure you're okay carrying him?” She asked, voice still low.

“Yeah, no, it's fine. I'll be fine. You just open the door.” Gerbrant groaned. Cecilia opened the door, wind and rain immediately blowing in their faces again.

Together, they walked in silence, Cecilia circling around to make sure no one was following. Gerbrant’s thoughts felt like a static, himself being unable to focus on anything besides the weight resting on his shoulders.  Before he had noticed any real time passing, Cecilia snapped her fingers.

“Hey. We’re here. Snap out of it.” She whispered, as she pushed the barn door open. It was pitch black inside. The cold wind seemed to be blowing straight through the rickety shack., but at least it was dry. Gerbrant carefully laid the man down on the ground. Cecilia looked outside for a few last seconds, and then closed the creaky door.

“Now what.” Gerbrant whispered.

“We tie him up.” Cecilia pushed an old looking chair to the middle of the room, and tossed some rope at Gerbrant. “And… I think it’s best if we blindfold him. And then we wait.” She finished.

“Right. But then? What are we going to do with him? I don’t want to-“

“No, I don’t want to either. So we won’t. We’ll ask out questions, and then we’ll just… let him go.” Cecilia sighed. “He’ll have no proof anything ever happened.

Gerbrant nodded, looking relieved. Carefully, he lifted the man onto the chair, and started tying him up, as Cecilia lit a candle. She handed him an old towel to use as a blindfold. Gerbrant worked slowly, cautiously, making sure he wouldn’t wake the man up during the process. After a minute or so, he stepped away, allowing Cecilia to check his handiwork. She pulled at a few ropes, checking to see if they were tight enough and wouldn’t come loose.

“Okay, great.” She murmured. It sounded almost sarcastic. “Thanks. Now we just have to wait.”

* * *

 

“Uhm… I spy, with my little eye-“ Gerbrant squinted, his eyes travelling across the tiny room. “Something… green.”

“Is it the grass in the corner?” Cecilia replied. When Gerbrant nodded, she sighed. “You’ve already had that one. You can’t do the same thing again.”

“I was just- just checking your memory, kiddo.” Gerbrant smiled sheepishly. “Besides, we’ve already had, like, everything here. It’s not very fun playing this game in the dark. Are you absolutely one hundred percent sure you don’t want-“

“Stop trying to make me play truth or dare. I’m not going to.” Cecilia stood up to stretch her legs, leaving Gerbrant sitting on the floor. “I spy, with my little eye… Something-“

A groan interrupted their game.

“Fuck.” Cecilia hissed, as she took a step back.

“I’m fairly sure ‘fuck’ is not a colour.” Gerbrant whispered. Slowly, he stood up as well. The man on the chair groaned again, and moved his head. As soon as he realized he couldn’t see anything, he turned his head frantically, and tried to pull his arms loose.

“Hey! Where the fuck am I? What’s going on? Is this a sick joke?” He yelled. “Let me go, right now!”

Cecilia and Gerbrant looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Neither of them had planned this far ahead.

Gerbrant cleared his throat. “I- This is not a joke, we… We just want some answers. Answers that you have. If you work with us, we’ll let you go safe and sound, and no one will get hurt. If you don’t, then we have no choice but to harm you.” He sounded like he was straining, trying to lower his voice, in a failing attempt to sound even slightly more intimidating.

The man was silent for a second. “…What the fuck are you talking about.”

“Hey, we’ve kidnapped you! You don’t get to ask the questions anymore!” Gerbrant took a step closer.

The man snorted. “You have no authoritative power over me, bastard. Now let me go. If the other guards find you here with me tied up, they’ll kill you on the spot.”

“They won’t find you.” Cecilia hissed. “At least, not till we’re done with you. Now cooperate.” Gerbrant was taken aback by the intense look in her eyes.

“Ah. Of course. Well, missy, whatever you want to believe. I’ll play along. According to my own rules, of course.” The man spat on the ground and looked straight ahead. “Well? I can’t answer questions you haven’t asked yet.”

“Right. What’s-“ Gerbrant’s voice slipped, and he groaned. “Who cares. What’s your name?”

The corner of the man’s mouth went up, forming a small grin that was barely noticeable, and only lasted a fraction of a second. “Is that really the first question you want to ask me? You want me to fucking introduce myself? You really are jokes.”

“Just answer my question!” Gerbrant yelled. Cecilia mentioned for him to calm down a little. She was right. Getting angry this quickly wasn’t going to help, but Gerbrant couldn’t help it: the pent-up nerves were getting to him.

“Don’t throw a tantrum.” The man said.

Cecilia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I already know his name.”

“Wow, you two really thought this through, didn’t you?” The tied up guard snorted. “I can tell you’re super prepared. How long did you take to think of this? One hour? Two?”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Cor.” Cecilia said, and swiftly planted her heel on his toes. The man, Cor, yelped in anger.

“Bitch.” He hissed.

“You could’ve told me you knew that.” Gerbrant said to Cecilia, looking dejected. “Anyways, your turn to answer a question.”

“Turns? Are we working in turns here?” Cor laughed, a hollow sound. “Look, mommy, I’m playing nice, taking turns!” He imitated a child, his voice high pitched. Cecilia rolled her eyes as he continued. “I’m really starting to feel like I’ve been kidnapped by a bunch of kids. Almost ironic. But seriously, are you twelve? Are there more little kids around here? Do I need to fear death by tickling?”

Both Gerbrant and Cecilia stayed awfully silent, before Gerbrant coughed. “I’m not a child.” He said. “And you don’t get to ask the questions here.”

The man’s mood almost immediately shifted. “Shit…” He whispered. “You two really are that young, aren’t you?”

“You don’t get to ask the questions here.” Cecilia said. “We do. And we have some questions about something that happened a few years back.”

“Listen, kids, you have full lives ahead of you- If you just let me go home, I’ll pretend this never happened and we can all just live the rest of our lives in peace, okay? You can both grow up and become normal adults instead of spending the rest of your life in pr-“

“My brother did not get that chance.” Cecilia circled around the man. “Now, Cor, question number one. Did you, or did you not partake in the kidnapping of the lost sons.” The last part was accented, articulated in a way that made clear the question was rhetorical. Cecilia already knew the answer. She just wanted him to admit.

The man smiled. “Ah, so it’s about that.” He paused for a second, looking for the right words. “I helped picking up the young men who were obligated to perform military duty, yes. Any and all objections to that should’ve been put with the Count, y’know?”

“Military duty?” Gerbrant mouthed. Cecilia shook her head.

“It’s not- If it was military duty we should be able to see them. Why can’t we see them? Why can’t we visit?”

“I’m not going to answer that. It’s been three years, kid. You could’ve asked about this years ago.”

“Answer my question.” Cecilia sounded angry. She took a step forward, and Gerbrant tried to pull her back, but she pulled herself loose. “Answer my fucking question, asshole! Where did you take them? What kind of military duty?”

Gerbrant remained silent. He wasn’t sure what to say, and all the ideas he did have seemed like they would only escalate the situation further. Besides that, he didn’t have the right information to ask the right questions, and the realization made him anxious. So, he settled on leaning back against the wall, making Cecilia do all the work. It didn’t feel right, but what other options did he have than to stay back and watch?

“Are you too dense to understand the meaning of military duty?” Cor asked.

“Even I know there’s multiple kinds of military duty, dude. She’s asking for specifics. And, listen,  I know you can’t see the look on her face, personally made sure of that-“ Gerbrant had put up his usual cocky demeanour, but this time, he was trying his best to keep it up. He took a deep breath, an attempt to make his pause suspenseful. “But she’s not looking happy. I’d work along.”

“Does it look like I give a shit, kid?” The man shook his head. “Listen. I’m not in charge of those kids. Therefore, I don’t decide what they do, and you know what? I don’t care either. Now, let me go, and we’ll all be on our merry way-“

In a flash of rage, Cecilia punched the man in his jaw.

While the man stayed perfectly quiet, Gerbrant could see blood trickling down his chin, and the young Guard immediately turned to his friend.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He hissed, pulling her back. “You’re only making matters worse!”

“I don’t care! I’m asking simple questions, and this man refuses to answer them-“

“Listen, he answered your question! He doesn’t know! Now calm the fuck down before you do any more harm! I’m serious, I’ll lock you outside.” Gerbrant whispered angrily. Cecilia looked him in the eyes for a few seconds before nodding.

“Alright.”

“Good. Now take a deep breath. I’ll ask the next question.”

Cecilia took a step back, vacantly gazing at the man in the middle of the room. Gerbrant realized that she probably hadn’t intended to. It was easy to get caught up in something you care about, after all. He regretted suggesting his idea in the first place.

“Alright, my turn.” He said. “Where did you take the sons after you ripped them away from their families?”

Cor laughed again, this time more malicious than anything else. Gerbrant could feel chills running down his spine.

* * *

 

“What the fuck did you do to him, you sick fuck!”

Gerbrant was tired. They had been going at it for hours, and nothing Cor had said had been substantial. Gerbrant wanted to go home, go to bed, give up and leave. However, Cecilia, fuelled by rage and adrenaline, was still going at it. Her high pitched screams of frustration and anger were getting too loud for him to stand. Maybe her plan was to scream the information out of the man. If it was, however, it clearly wasn’t working.

“Are they dead?” Cecilia screamed. “Are they dead, is that what you did? Did you take them all away to fucking kill them?”

Trying to ignore the grating sound, Gerbrant leaned back and closed his eyes. Cor had very simply adapted the silent treatment for the past hour. He didn’t make a sound, except for the occasional snort or huff, which only frustrated Cecilia further.

“Listen, k- uhm, listen. Let’s just knock him out and leave. I’m tired of this shit.” Gerbrant mumbled.

“Are you serious?” Cecilia whispered. “You’re okay with having done all of this-“ She gestured at the shack and the tied up man. “And then just leaving without anything?”

“Honestly? Yeah.” Gerbrant yawned. “I’ll have to be back soon, or I’ll be fired.”

“That’s what you’re worried about? About being fired?” Cecilia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, stupid, I’m not about to lose everything I’ve worked for, for nothing. This is a giant risk, and if it doesn’t pay off, I’m further gone than I was before. Leave if you want, but I’m staying.”

“I might.” He stretched his arms, and sighed. “I’m not trying to get you angry. I just- “

“It doesn’t really matter whether you want to leave or not, children.” A soft thud sounded as a bundle of rope fell down to the ground, and the only thing that broke the tense silence was the creaking of a chair. Gerbrant took a step back as the man lifted himself up from the chair, and undid his blindfold. A knife gleamed in his hand, as the first rays of sunlight that shone through the half-open woodwork hit the edge of the metal. Cor’s voice was dripping with a dangerous anger.

“Neither of you is going anywhere anyway.”

* * *

 

“Fancy seeing you here, this early in the morning. Out for a walk?” Evelijne joked as she jogged up to Leon, who looked lost in thought.

Leon shook his head. “No, I’m- Eef, did you run into Cor this morning?”

“Sure-…” She scratched the back of her head. “Actually, no, I didn’t. I did notice the atmosphere wasn’t as sour as usual, but-“

“Eef.” Leon cut her off. “Maria didn’t see him last night. When she started her shift. She told me so at the debriefing, and I thought he had just left earlier without telling, but… If you haven’t seen him at breakfast either, that makes no sense. It’s not like him.”

“And you didn’t see him walking around anywhere?” Evelijne asked, but Leon just shook his head again. “Right, I get your point. That is peculiar.”

Leon gazed over the city. The familiar sight of people walking about through the streets did nothing to settle his unease. Evelijne’s silence didn’t help either.

He cleared his throat. “Maybe we should just take a walk around the wall. See if he’s around somewhere. If we can’t find him, I’ll go check if he’s at home, no matter how unlikely it seems. I know it’s still really early, and he could just be late, but-“

“No, yeah, I get it. We have occasional late-comers. He’s not one of them.”

Evelijne stretched her arms out and pointed to both left and right. “Which way, boss?”

“Don’t call me that. Left.” Leon grumbled, and Evelijne laughed. Together, they walked down the wall, greeting their occasional colleague. The greeting was mostly to check for voices, if any of them sounded like Cor. It was quicker than to analyse each individual face.

However, none of the guards they passed sounded or even kind of looked like Cor. Evelijne recognized most of them, and made a mental tally, until she had checked off each and every member of her squad, except for the man they were looking for. Judging by Leon’s angry expression, he had come to the same conclusion.

“He’s not here.” He said. “I hope for his ass that he’s sick, otherwise-“

“Hey, cool it. He’s not Gerbrant 2.0. He’ll have his reasons, okay?”

Leon snorted at the mention of his most despised recruit. She was right. “Alright, I’ll give you that one. You can just keep patrolling, okay? I’ll be back in a few minutes, hopefully with-“ He stopped when he noticed Evelijne’s eyes had wandered off. “Eef? Hey, you there? What’s the matter? Please tell me you’re not feeling sick too.”

She shook her head, although her pale complexion made Leon think otherwise. She looked like all the blood had been drained from her face.

“Leon, over there. Look.” She whispered, pointing at the ground.

Leon followed her gaze and saw what she was pointing at. Slowly, he walked towards the spot, and crouched down. A dark brown spot coloured the usual yellowish rocks, standing out immensely. Evelijne walked towards him, still looking pale.

“Is that-“

“I’m pretty sure it’s blood, yeah.” Leon whispered.

“Fuck.” Evelijne covered her mouth. “Do you think it’s Cor’s?”

“I sure hope it’s not, but… You know just as well as I do that we can’t rule it out. I’ll… Alert the squad leaders there’s something fishy going on here. Can you go tell the team?” Leon asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go do that. What are you going to tell them? The other squad leaders?”

Leon was silent for a while, before he stood back up, straightening his back. “Attack. Possible kidnapping. Thankfully, not enough blood for murder.” He paused. “Hey, cheer up, it’ll be alright. Just tell the others, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” Evelijne sighed.

Leon smiled. “There you go. And hey, knowing Cor?” He waited till she raised an eyebrow. “The other party has lost a lot more blood.”


	8. Answers

Gerbrant’s eyes widened. From where he was standing, he could clearly see the knife, but none of the thoughts that went through his head were processing correctly. All of it seemed like a vague mess of words and visions, accompanied by some blaring alarm in the back of his head. The only logical step was a step back, and so, Gerbrant took a step back, and backed into a wall.

“Wha- How-“ Cecilia stuttered, but before she even managed to back up as well, Cor grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her.

“Kids, kids, calm down. This is, well, let’s call it a lesson, hmm?” He showed the knife to Cecilia as well, who let out a gasp in realisation.

“Fuck.” She whispered, audibly terrified, but trying to oppress her fear. “Alright, lesson learned.” Staying as calm as possible was  an act, but it was a hard one, and Gerbrant could see the calmness crumbling off every second.

“Yeah, we’ve- we got it, now if you’d please put that do-“ he tried to save Cecilia’s camouflage by pulling the attention to him, but was quickly interrupted.

“You inept little shits think everything comes easy, and now that you face something hard, you immediately try to scramble your way out? Maybe that worked with your lack of performance on the wall, but not here.” Cor laughed as Gerbrant furrowed his brows in confusion.

“My lack of what?”

Cor shook his head. “You know, Gerbrant, once you get some experience, you know, even the tiniest little grain will do in this situation, you start to realize that most of the time, a face is not the most useful tool to recognize someone in our line of work. I knew who you were the moment you started talking.”

Gerbrant looked at Cecilia, who was still wearing her face-scarf, only her frightened eyes visible. “So- so what? What is that information going to help you?”

“Are you making a threat?” Cor laughed again, but the grin had never even left his face. “That information won’t help me anymore, since I am just going to personally hand you over, but even if I had decided to wait this whole game out, you wouldn’t have gone free. And this won’t do you much help either, miss Meijer.” He ripped off the cloth, and Cecilia stared at him angrily.

From the corner of his eye, Gerbrant could see Cecilia reaching for the dagger with her free hand. “So, what, what do you want now then?” He asked, in an attempt to keep Cor’s focus on him.

“What do I want? I don’t want anything, I’m taking the two of you with me, I’ll make sure to walk by mister Stuivenberg first, and I’ll hand you over to Korda. Whatever he does with you is up to him. However, as you’ve been nothing but trouble,  I’m sure some tears won’t get you a pardon this time, kid. For two children, you’ve been incredibly annoying. I’m almost regretting I didn’t take you too, miss Meijer, when I took your brother with me.”

“You fucking monster!” Cecilia yelled, as she turned herself to rip her arm free, and tried to attack him with the dagger. However, Cor was quicker, and parried her attack with his own knife, sending the dagger flying. He pushed Cecilia into the wall, and held his knife to her throat.

“That was a really, really bad idea, kid. Now I’m not even sure if I’ll let the two of you out of this shack alive.” Cor hissed.

Gerbrant didn’t know what to do. “That’s- that’s not fair, we, we were never going to-“ he stuttered. “Alive?” He ended with a frail whisper.

“Gerbrant, can it.” Cecilia said, her voice shaky. “Calm down, okay?”

“The voice of reason. Now, Gerbrant, if you’d please help me out here? Grab the rope from the chair.” Cor gestured at the bundle of now two ropes. “And then hand it over to me, yes? And sit down.”

Cecilia closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, through gritted teeth. When she opened her eyes again, Gerbrant still hadn’t moved, and Cor was tapping his foot on the wooden floor. She nodded at the rope.

“Just pick it up, Gerbrant.” She said, slowly and articulated. Gerbrant looked at her, and so did Cor. However, as Cor was looking at her, she could see Gerbrant hesitantly glance at the dagger on the floor. Very carefully, she nodded again.

“Pick it up, and give it to him.”

Cor snickered, and looked back at Gerbrant, who had now taken a step forward. Gerbrant took another step. Both the dagger and the rope were now within his reach.

“Hurry up, kid, before I decide it’s not worth the wait.” Cor said. “I’m being really generous already, considering what you’ve done.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gerbrant whispered. Cecilia had never seen her usually so animated friend be so incredibly motionless. It seemed as if he still wasn’t sure what to do, until he locked eyes with her. His eyes, which had been averted up until that point, were filled with a fierce determination. Cecilia let out another deep breath, this time one of relief.

Cor didn’t even have the time to say anything before Gerbrant already dove for the dagger, and Cecilia threw her knee up to where it hurt most. Quickly, she jumped out of the way, as her friend slammed Cor into the wall with his shoulder. The older man let out a yell of pain, and Cecilia could see the knife flying from his hand.

With another quick movement, yet this time Cecilia could see a slight hesitation, Gerbrant drove the dagger into Cor’s leg, rendering the latter incapable of moving for a moment. Both Gerbrant and Cor fell to the floor, and Gerbrant scurried backwards, away from the bleeding man.

Hissing in pain, Cor tried to get back up, and lunged at Cecilia, who was now nearest to him. The dagger remained in his thigh, and Cecilia realized that he wouldn’t remove it in order to keep the bleeding at a minimum.

“Gerbrant! The knife!” She yelled, as she tried to push Cor away. Gerbrant’s eyes darted between her and the knife, still lying on the ground. Out of breath, he grabbed at it desperately, before feeling a weight crushing his hand, as Cor planted his foot on it.

“Didn’t fucking think so.” Cor hissed, and he kicked the knife away, so Gerbrant couldn’t reach it.

“Get fucked!” Cecilia suddenly yelled, and Gerbrant felt a splash of blood on his face.

Cor collapsed onto the floor with a hard thud, and Gerbrant tried to stand up. Without actually processing anything, he tried to realize what just happened. Cecilia had fallen onto her knees. Her eyes were shut tightly. Cor was half-lying on her lap. In her hand, she held the dagger that had previously been in Cor’s leg.

Gerbrant’s eyes widened. Neither of them dared to talk, and he felt like he was having trouble breathing.

“Did you-“ He whispered, hoarsely. “Is he- Is he dead?”

Cecilia’s eyes snapped open. She looked at the dagger in her hand, and the corpse lying on her legs. As if she just now realized what was happening, she pushed him off of her, and threw the dagger away. She turned to Gerbrant, fear filling her eyes.

“I- I didn’t mean to, at least, I don’t think- Fuck.” She whispered back. Slowly, she lifted her hands, and grabbed her own head, as if she needed the support to realize what happened. She tilted her head back. “Fuck!” She yelled. “What are we even going to do now?”

Gerbrant didn’t respond. More and more sunlight was breaking through the roof, illuminating the scene. He closed his eyes in an attempt to block his environment out, allowing him to think. They didn’t have much time left.

“We need to leave.” He whispered.

Cecilia stopped whimpering. “Huh? And just- just leave him here?”

“No? Well, actually…” He paused and scratched his head, suddenly feeling a sharp pain as he did. He hissed. “It’s just that, we can’t stay here. They’ll look for us.”

“And you think they won’t look for-“ Cecilia gestured at the corpse. “Him?”

“The rain will have erased most of the traces.” Gerbrant whispered.

“Not all.”

Gerbrant looked at his injured hand, attempting to move his fingers individually. The pain only grew worse at each attempt. He sighed.

“We should bury him.” Cecilia said.

“What? How? I can’t… use my hand, at the moment, and do you even know how long digging a grave takes?”

“Do you?”

“No, we ate our corpses.” Gerbrant rolled his eyes. “I lived in the forest, Cecilia. Digging large and deep holes in the mud is how I spent most of my childhood.”

“We don’t have another choice. If we start digging now, you might be back in the city before your tardiness reaches Korda.” She opened the door and grabbed a shovel that had been standing outside.

Gerbrant followed her out and soon they were both digging away in the mud near the creek. Biting away the pain in his hand, Gerbrant looked at Cecilia, who looked as detached as ever. This was her absolute last resort, and she still hadn’t gained anything from it. Maybe the search was in vain. Nobody seemed to know anything, and searching the county was impossible. He wiped some sweat off his brow, and noticed the vague red colour.

“I suggest…” he mumbled. “We should wash ourselves off after we… bury Cor. Do you want me to go get him?”

“Yeah, he’ll fit by now. And you’re right, we look like…”

Gerbrant nodded, and went back inside to fetch the corpse. They quickly buried him, and threw the shovels in the creek, before washing themselves off.

Cecilia sighed. “Listen, Gerbrant, before we go back…” She paused for a second. “This hasn’t led to anything, but… Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” He snorted. “Even though I’ll probably never outlive the trauma’s I’m going to get from this…” he waved his hands at the dirt. “Mess.”

“Guess we’re both going to need a drink tonight.” Cecilia added.

“I’m going to guess that by tonight the events of today have sunken in and that I’ll want to sleep for a very long time, but in the off-chance that that doesn’t happen, you’re paying.”

They both stood in silence for a little longer, until Gerbrant coughed.

Cecilia nodded. “Let’s head back.”

* * *

 

Leon was about to lose his patience. His entire uniform was covered in mud, and none of them had found anything. The rain had removed every single trace they could possibly have used. He looked over at Evelijne, who had resorted to kicking the mud every step she took. Leon walked over to her.

“How’s it going over here?” he grumbled.

“I’m finding just as much as you are, judging by your tone.” she sighed, kicking some more mud. “So, what’s your professional opinion?”

“Heh.” Leon smiled. “My professional opinion is that we should organize some more structured research. As for my unprofessional opinion: this is a load of bullshit and we should head home before we actually sink in this muddy field.”

“I’m starting to agree with you. Maybe Cor has already returned to the wall anyways. Do you want me to tell everyone we’re heading back?”

Leon scratched his chin. “Let’s give it a little longer. We’ve almost combed through the entire field anyway, might as well cover the last stretch as well.”

“Uh, sir?” A younger man came running up to him.

“Yeah?”

“We’ve found something. A- a shed, but there’s reason to suspect something awful happened there.”

“Lead the way.” Leon mentioned for Evelijne to follow him.

They followed the younger guard to a rickety shack standing at the edge of a field. When Leon opened the door, he could hear Evelijne gasp behind him. There were blood spatters everywhere in the little house, and a large stain covered the floor. A chair lied in the corner, with ropes around it. The signs of a struggle were obvious everywhere. Leon walked over to the chair and picked it up.

“Well, this just got a lot more ominous. Evelijne, could you call everyone here?” He asked his colleague, and she nodded before running outside as quick as possible. He had noticed she had started to look a little sickly.

He looked around the shack a little more, and noticed something reflecting light from a little patch of grass in the corner. Walking closer, he could see a knife sticking out from the green. When he picked it up, he noticed it, too, was covered in blood. He turned it around in his hand.

“I’m back.” Evelijne said, softly.

“Yeah, good.” Leon showed her the knife. “Listen, I can’t say with certainty that this is what it looks like, but…”

“What else could it possibly be, Leon? A chair, rope, a knife and blood. It’s completely by the book.” She huffed.

“It could have been used as a slaughterhouse. But you’re right, it doesn’t seem likely. The shed is falling apart, and this all seems too recent. The issue is that we can’t tell who the victim was in this situation.”

“What do you want to do then?” Evelijne kneeled down to look at the dried blood on the floor. “See if anyone else went missing?”

“That, and spread the news. We’re gonna want everyone to be on guard if there’s actually someone out there murdering people. If this was Cor himself, then, well, it’s best if everyone stays on the lookout for him. Despite it being effective, this is not the way to deal with anyone you might dislike. And if he truly wanted to go off on his own he could have just asked to retire, at least… Things would’ve been a lot clearer that way.”

Leon turned around and walked out the door, where everyone who had joined their little search party had gathered.

“Alright everyone, thank you for your time. We have found enough, and thus, we’ll be heading back. I’ll hold a general debriefing at dinner. This got a lot more complex than it originally seemed.”

* * *

 

Soaked to the bone, Gerbrant carefully opened a small door in the wall, allowing Cecilia to step through first. She looked around the corner, and nodded to him, after which he closed the door and stepped into the alley. The only sound that could be heard was the soft dripping of water from their clothes onto the stones. Each drip made Gerbrant cringe.

“Do you know how to get into your room without being seen?” Cecilia asked, brushing her fingers through her hair.

“I’ll manage. If I don’t freeze to death first.” He sighed. “We should’ve done this in summer.”

“We shouldn’t have done this at all.”

Gerbrant looked away. She probably hadn’t meant it as an accusation, but it stung. After all, she was right.

“Hurry. Pretend… Pretend nothing happened. He was-“ A pause. “He was a bad man.”

“Let’s keep it at that and stop talking about it.” Gerbrant responded. He was shivering, and the urge to lie down in bed and never get out again was growing stronger by the minute. “Take care, okay? I’ll see you tonight.”

He took off into a sprint, diving into alleyways left and right. His sense of direction was skewed, but it didn’t take long before he could see the market regardless. As quickly as humanly possible, he ran inside, up the stairs, and closed the door behind him. Fresh air seemed impossible to gather as he fell onto his knees. The sound of footsteps down the staircase ripped him out of his trance, rapidly.

“What the hell are you doing.” A voice called, sounding more worried than angry. “Are you alright, Schippers?”

“I- I need to get dressed.” Gerbrant stuttered, still shaking from the cold. Water was dripping on the floor.

“That’d probably be easier if you were standing up.” The man kneeled down, and helped Gerbrant back on his feet. “But regardless of that, what happened? I don’t consider you dense enough to willingly go for a swim, fully clothed, in November.”

No response. Gerbrant looked the man in the eyes, only now realising he had been talking to his friend’s squad leader.

“Well? Were you wandering around during the storm, is that it?” Frederic inquired.

“Uh…” It had to be believable. Gerbrant blinked. “I- I lost my keys, so I couldn’t go to my room, and- y’know, I decided to look for a tavern, and I might’ve drank a little too much. I think I might’ve fallen into a creek at some point, judging by the plants I had on me.” He smiled sheepishly. “But if I get dressed now, I can still make it relatively on time. The headache’s not too bad.”

“Sounds like an eventful night.” Frederic responded. “Do you have your keys now?”

Relieved, Gerbrant patted himself down, until he proudly pulled the key from his back pocket.

Frederic smiled. “Very well. Hurry up then, and make sure to get yourself a hearty lunch. You look like you need the energy.” He said, and left the building, leaving Gerbrant to exhale deeply. He was okay.

* * *

 

Dinner was hard to stomach. Gerbrant had tried his hardest to take Frederic’s advice, but he felt too sick to eat anything. Completely lost in thoughts, he kept stabbing his beans with his fork until there was not much more left than an unidentifiable green mash. Next to him, Cecilia was doing the same. Frederic had allowed her to start later.

Gerbrant pushed his plate away. “This isn’t gonna happen.” He looked over at Cecilia, who shook her head. “Do you want me to clean up your plate as well?”

“No, leave it. Everyone thinks I’m sickly enough as is. I’ll keep trying a bit longer.” She sighed.

“Your call.”

When he returned to the table, Cecilia was drawing circles in her mash.

Gerbrant smiled. “That’s a very nice portrait you’ve made of me there. I like to think I have a bit meatier arms, though.” He pushed a piece of bread into the mash. “There. An accurate representation of my muscular stature.”

The corner of Cecilia’s mouth went up a little. Success.

“So, hey, now that we’re not as busy anymore…” Gerbrant sat back down next to his friend. “…Can you help me out with that letter to my parents? We’ll omit- well, you know. But they deserve to know I haven’t been mauled by a bear, or whatever horror scenario they’ve come up with.”

“Gerbrant, to be perfectly honest, I- I’m not really in the mood to write. It’s really nice that you want to keep them up to date, but… Not now. Maybe you should find someone else to do it.”

“You know I can’t.” Gerbrant said, sounding small. “But I’ll wait. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

“Sure.” Cecilia looked up from her plate. “In the meantime, you might wanna see if anyone’s willing to teach you. Learning how to write has never hurt anyone, you know.”

“Eh, I don’t know about that. I mean…” Gerbrant grinned. “You know how to write, and you’re incredibly rude. Stuivenberg knows how to write, and guess what: he’s rude too. Maybe there’s a correlation there.”

“One day, I will stab you.”

“Only if you write the letter first.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?”

Gerbrant nearly cringed as Leon’s voice rang through the mess hall. He looked over and saw that his former squad-leader looked worried, an expression not frequently seen on the man’s face. Korda was standing next to him, looking as scared as ever. Gerbrant closed his eyes as he felt a wave of nausea hit him.

“One of your fellow guards, Cor Bossaaerts, has not been seen since last night and, as such, has been reported as missing. During a search this morning, a shed was discovered, in which we found rope, a chair, a knife, and a worrying amount of blood.”

Gasps were heard throughout the room, before chatter started. Leon cleared his throat before continuing.

“We can’t say whether the blood was Mr. Bossaaerts’. If it is, we are on the lookout for the perpetrators. If it isn’t, we cannot say whether or not Mr. Bossaaerts is stable. Stay alert, and, as I am his squad leader, all information should be immediately reported to me or Korda.” Leon paused. “Thank you for your attention.”           

Panicked voices filled the room immediately, and Gerbrant sunk his face into his hands. Cecilia shook his shoulders softly.

“Don’t do this. Not now. You never knew him well enough for this to be an appropriate reaction.” She whispered.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Gerbrant looked vaguely annoyed. “I’m not a professional liar like you are.”

“That’s uncalled for.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Cecilia paused. “Let’s just leave. There’s no reason for us to stay here. We’re both done eating anyways.” She pushed her plate away and stood up. Gerbrant looked around. Multiple people were doing the same as Cecilia, and still, it felt as if the two of them were breaking some invisible rules by doing so.

His mindless gaze stopped abruptly when he noticed Frederic staring straight at them. Slowly, Gerbrant gets up as well, and tugs on Cecilia’s sleeve.

“I don’t want to alarm you, but, erm…” Gerbrant mumbled, as Cecilia looked at him quizzically. “Your squad leader is looking at us. Intently. Maybe we should move quickly.”

“He doesn’t know, Gerbrant. You’re making things up. If we leave quickly, we’ll only look suspicious.”

“We already look suspicious, Cecilia, look at us! We haven’t eaten a bite, we look like sheets, and now we’re getting upset over some guy we were never even supposed to know. Unless you feel great right now and ghostly pale is your natural tint, we better hurry the fuck up. I do not want to be interrogated right now.”

“I don’t think we’re gonna have much of a choice.” She nodded to Frederic, who was already making his way to the door. “So you better get a grip. We’re simply sick. You infected me.”

“Why am I the infectious one?” Gerbrant whispered as they continued walking.

“Because I’m not stupid enough to get caught outside in the rain. Obviously.”

Steadily, they made their way to the exit. Before they could leave, Frederic stepped out in front of them.

“Schippers, Meijer. Come along, please.”

They followed in silence. Frederic led them through the hallways, further and further into the building. Cecilia coughed occasionally. Gerbrant could feel himself erupting in a cold sweat. Every step seemed to echo through the halls. Soon enough, Frederic opened a door, leading into a small office. He grabbed to stools from the side, and placed them down in front of the desk, before closing the door behind them.

“Sit down.” Frederic grumbled, as he sat down in the chair behind the desk, moving aside some old parchment.

“Ah- yeah.” Gerbrant stuttered as he sat back down. “Glad to see you’ve gotten better at finding your way around, sir.” A pause. “You know, back when I just, uhm, got here and everything, and you needed to bring me to-“

“I know what you are talking about, Schippers. I chose to ignore it.”

“Right. Sorry.” Gerbrant mumbled. He could almost hear Cecilia’s eyes rolling.

“Forget it. It’s been quite the day, I’d guess. After all, it’s not every day you hear about the possible gruesome murder of a fellow guard.” Frederic’s eyes glanced over them, seemingly looking for a reaction. “I hope this hasn’t make you reconsider your career choices, Schippers.”

“Sir, if it’s about Gerbrant, can I go, please? I don’t feel so well so I’d better dress up warmly for my shift.” Cecilia asked, her voice small.

“And why is that? Why do you not feel so well? I didn’t expect you to take the news so harshly. After all, you’ve been here for a while now. Did you know the man?”

Cecilia coughed. “Gerbrant made me sick, I think. Well, not him as a person, not this time-“ An elbow collided with her side. She smiled. “But I helped him out this morning and I think I caught whatever he had.”

Frederic folded his hands. “Right. I’ll keep my distance. Any virus that spreads that fast needs to be kept far away, after all.” He didn’t seem entirely convinced. “But that doesn’t answer my second question. Did you two know Mr. Bossaaerts?”

“He might have known about me, but no. No idea.” Gerbrant said.

“Me… neither.”

“I didn’t expect you to know him by name, Meijer. He patrolled the area where you live- used to live, sorry. Back in the early days.”

“Oh.” Cecilia sighed. “I must’ve seen him around, then. But I didn’t get out much, in all honesty.”

“I’m fairly certain you must have, yes.” Frederic stared at Cecilia for a while, before turning his attention back to Gerbrant. “I’d like to inquire as to what happened to you last night. For obvious reasons.”

“Obvious reasons?” The boy raised his eyebrows, before looking down. “Right. I, uh, went out drinking, and from that point onward I don’t remember much. I drank, well, a lot.”

“Unhealthy habit for a boy your size.” Frederic wrote something down, and looked back up. “So, between you going drinking and me finding you absolutely soaked in the doorway, you have no recollection of what happened?”

“Sir, if you’re suggesting what I think you are-“

“Not now, Meijer.” Frederic glared at her sternly. “Schippers, please try your best to remember.”

“I- Well, I had loads of fun, but I think I ended up being kicked out.” Gerbrant scratched the back of his head. “That might’ve been after the game of truth or dare. Anyways, I ended up in the rain.”

“You told me you fell in the creek.”

“That was later. I remember stumbling home at some point before realizing I didn’t have my keys. Don’t remember what I did between that and the creek, though.”

Frederic sighed. “Your alibi is… very thin, at most.” Cecilia stood up to interrupt, but he cut her off before she could. “We’ll continue to investigate what happened. If either of you, or anyone, really, tries to leave between now and when the investigation is deemed finished, you’ll be dead men walking. Until then, I will keep my eyes on you.”

Gerbrant and Cecilia both nodded in understanding.

“I have no further questions for now. Get to work. Or bed. I’m going to discuss everything with Mr. Stuivenberg.”

“Yes, sir.” Gerbrant mumbled.

Frederic nodded, picked up his paperwork, and left the two behind in the office. The door closed behind him with a bang.


End file.
